Karen Ann Quinlan, a twenty-two year old from New Jersey, went to a party, took diazepam and dextropropoxyphene, and consumed alcohol. Later that night, she went into a coma and was in and out of vegetative state for months. Her parents then asked the doctors to take her off the ventilator so she could die peacefully, but the physicians refused. They took the situation to the courts and won so Karen was removed from the ventilator, and slowly died nine years later from pneumonia (Byrne). The doctors did not believe taking her off the machine was the best idea because they did not want to participate in the act of euthanasia. Many believe that it is inhumane, goes against religious views, and causes suffering on the family of the patient so they do not want it to be legalized. While opponents of euthanasia have reasonable concerns, the euthanizing of a terminally ill patient is practical where it is legal and ought to be considered where it is currently unlawful. The …show more content…
An article on The Conversation by Lecturer Steven McGee acknowledges, “Or, patients who do not really want to end their lives might feel they are a burden and so feel a subtle pressure, real or imagined, to end their lives when this is not what they want (the vulnerability concern)” (McGee). The government’s main reason for not allowing euthanasia is that they know how the patient will feel when they are going through the end of their life. They will start feeling bad for their loved ones and that is understandable, but at the same time, the family should recognize that their loved one is no longer suffering. Countries all over the world have different beliefs on what the euthanasia laws should be, but instead of focusing on just the suffering or just the religion, they should consider those when making the laws to make euthanasia