Euthanasi The Happy Ending By Terri Schaivo

(Revised Draft) Euthanasia: The Happy Ending Terri Schaivo was a young insurance clerk who collapsed in her home from cardiac arrest. She had suffered massive brain damage and was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state. Although her wish before she entered her coma was to not live on life support, she was left alive. For the next 15 years she was forced to live without living. Compared to the debates on euthanasia, it does present similar themes to a person right to die with dignity. Euthanasia is the process of ending one’s life with the aid of medical personnel and usually begins with a highly concentrated dose of barbiturates or central nervous system depressants (Methods of Euthanasia). This then puts the patient into a

Some of the most tormenting and discomforting terminal illnesses are stomach cancer, lung cancer, and pancreatic cancer (Hughes). Stomach cancer begins with extreme bloating and lack of hunger. After prescribed chemotherapy begins, nausea, vomiting, hair loss, or mouth sores become apparent (Hughes). Side effects of stomach cancer are that bile, a highly acidic substance inside the stomach, can be forced into the esophagus and cause massive upset stomachs and burnings of the inside (Hughes). Lung cancer patients endure the same side effects of chemotherapy, low blood cell levels, and the feeling that they are being suffocated throughout the day (Hughes). Pancreatic cancer starts with unbearable abdominal pain, dark urine, and yellow pigmented skin (Hughes). These side effects are just a miniscule scale of how tormenting some of these illnesses can get. To be terminally ill is defined as “a person who is sick and is diagnosed with a disease that will take their life. This person is usually told by doctors that they only have several months or years to live” (Investopedia). This means that once a patient is diagnosed “terminal” there is no recovery. No cures or antibiotics can save them from a terminal disease. No amount of money or time can save a terminally ill patient’s life. Even at times, doctors can be inaccurate with patients’ deaths and cause an unexpected and impactful death. It is the end of

Promoters of this claim that it can be provoked by mental judgment from the pain they suffer. Kathryn Judson, an Oregon resident, claims, “To my surprise and horror, during the exam I overheard the doctor giving my husband a sales pitch for assisted suicide.” This entails how doctors can attempt to convince a patient in ending their life. With many seeking for a release from their despair they look to doctors without hesitation for answers. Doctors can also seek profit from euthanasia. This may later lead on to doctors and nurses taking the easy way out of certain scenarios. But, on the other hand, there are a multitude of physiological and physical screenings a person must comply to in able for them to even apply for euthanasia. According to Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act you must make two oral requests to his or her physician, separated by at least 15 days, provide a written request to his or her physician, signed in the presence of two witnesses, and If either physician believes the patient's judgment is impaired by a psychiatric or psychological disorder, the patient must be referred for a psychological examination. (Oregon Department of Human Resources) Even after all of this is completed, there still is a chance of being denied. This exemplifies that euthanasia is taken extremely seriously and various precautions are taken to insure there is no slight of heart in your