Essay about Euthanasia Should Be Legal

Euthanasia is a controversial topic regarding whether or not physician-assisted suicide should be further legalized. Euthanasia is the act of a medical doctor injecting a poison into a patient 's body in order to kill them. Some argue that euthanasia should be legalized to put people out of pain and misery. However, others argue that some people with terminal illnesses would do anything to live longer and believe that it is a selfish and cowardly act. Euthanasia is disputable because of the various ethical issues, including, but not limited to: murder and suicide illegality, the Hippocratic Oath, and medical alternatives. As someone who has had many traumatic experiences and who wants to become a doctor, I am very passionate about the well-being of my future patients and the responsibility to do no harm to them. For these lawful, logical, and personal reasons, euthanasia should not be legalized.

When someone is inevitably dying and in inexplicable pain is it really a crime to grant their wishes and end their suffering? As of right now euthanasia is illegal in many countries and is a very controversial topic. Is it compassion for the patient helping them in ending their life or murder? The doctor is not giving death as an option, it is the patients choice and even where it is legal there are many rules. Euthanasia should not be considered a crime because the patient is not being murdered; they are having their suffering end in a painless, humane way out of compassion for the patient and their family.

For physicians, participating in euthanasia is against the Hippocratic Oath. This is the oath for anyone in the medical practice that states the conducts and moral practices of physicians. Physicians must respect and value all human lives. Not only will this practice violate the oath, but it also will break the respect and trust between the patient and the physician. There are actually two versions of the oath. The first is the original version. The second is the modern version. Both have the same meaning but different wording. One difference between the two is the content of euthanasia and abortion. The modernized version says “If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life..”. Although this new version of the oath allows euthanasia, there is still the original version which does not allow physicians to assist any patient in death. Within the original Hippocratic Oath it states: 'I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect... '. This

According to Rachels (248), a proponent of euthanasia, states the act is justified if death is the only way out of one’s awful pain. On the other hand, Gay Williams (353), an opponent of euthanasia, views it as immoral to take someone’s life before his or her own natural death time reaches. Medically, euthanasia can be acceptable for those patients that are extremely suffering and their doctors have no idea on what to do to help a patient whose condition is only worsening. Often, it is administered on consultation with the family members of the patient in question. However, health practitioners are held within the bounds of professionalism where they are made to understand sanctity of life. Doctors are not supposed to decide the future of

In a sense, euthanasia has been one of the most controversial and debated topics to ever arise in medicine. Euthanasia is defined as the intentional, painless killing by act or omission of a dependent human being suffering from an incurable disease or irreversible coma (King, 2016). Although the practice is still illegal in many areas, it is becoming more accepted, legal, and decriminalized in many parts of the United States. In majority of cases, the termination is carried out at the person's request, but there are times when they may be too ill or not in their right mind, and it is left to close relatives to make the decision. Euthanasia directly affects autonomy, which is a patient's right to make his own decision regarding his own life (Lachman, 2010). It is also important to be able to identify the different types of euthanasia, because it is not as simple as just "terminating a life." It is much more difficult that the previous definitions leads on. It can be done in several different ways, each with their own defining characteristics, and issues can arise from every one of them. Euthanasia, also known as patient assisted suicide or "mercy killing" has many pros, cons, morality concerns, and legal issues that directly impact the future of the practice.

Euthanasia is an important topic for discussion in today’s society for many reasons. One reason as to why this topic is so important is that it affects the ethical as well as the legal issues pertaining to not only the patients but the health care providers as well. Euthanasia, also known as physician assisted suicide, is also an important topic of discussion because it falls under many different categories which it can be argued for and against. Euthanasia is considered an emotional, as well as a practical debate.

Today, voluntary euthanasia is getting closer to being legalized in more than just one state in the United States. “‘Voluntary’ euthanasia means that the act of putting the person to death is the end result of the person’s own free will” (Bender 19). “ Voluntary euthanasia is an area worthy of our serious consideration, since it would allow patients who have exhausted all other reasonable options to choose death rather than continue suffering” (Bender 19). The question of whether or not voluntary euthanasia should be legalized is a major debate that has been around for years. Because the issue of whether people should have the right to choose how they want to live or die is so complex. With the advances in technology today we have made

The Hippocratic Oath is a Greek medical text, held sacred by many physicians, stating, “heal not kill” and doctors should not perform any harm towards a patient. Euthanasia may be seen as harming a patient but it is not harmful to take away someone’s pain and misery by setting them free from the pain; therefore, it does not violate the Hippocratic Oath. It would be cruel to deny them the wish of dying peacefully rather than letting them suffer. A doctor who helps with Euthanasia sees the same activities as a doctor who helps a patient withdrawal from a treatment; for example Leukemia. Doctors are here to help and in the end Euthanasia is helping the patient more than causing harm to the patient requesting Euthanasia. Doctors are in business

For this assignment, I will be focusing on the ethical considerations regarding euthanasia. I chose this ethical event because it caught my attention and I find it very controversial. It is important to speak up about euthanasia when it comes to your life and death. Some of the ethical issues that could arise when referring to euthanasia are pain and suffering, illness, doctor’s ethical stance, patient rights, course of actions, and quality of living. I will be discussing three sides of this issue and why the sides disagree, and the morals and values applied to each side.

To murder someone is a crime, to medically assist them in painless suicide is not. This is a term known as Euthanasia, in which a patient is killed painlessly by a medical doctor. It is viewed upon and discussed by many ethical viewers today, as a form of murder and doctors can serve prison time for it. However, for many people, euthanasia is looked at as a gift for patients when they are faced with an imminent death, or a chronic illness. It is an honorable death as many will not have their last moments struggling to breath, or suffering harshly from one's own fatal condition. Therefore, the practice of euthanasia should be legal in every state in the United states, because it helps the patients relieve them of their pain, it's a clear constitutional

For doctors, a main concern with euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is the Hippocratic Oath taken in medical school, which says to do no harm (Rogatz). However, disconnecting a ventilator is not seen as murder when the physician does it but prescribing medication that the patient chooses to request and then take is considered harm and murder. Also today, the Hippocratic Oath in its original form is only issued in one medical school in the country.

Euthanasia should not be legal that is why doctors, nurses and medicine are there for to make ill people feel better. Medicine should not be used as a form to end someone’s life. For example, the Hippocratic Oath by physicians enjoins “Do not harm and states I will give you no deadly medicine, even if asked” Thomas Reardon, past president of the American Medical Association states, “physicians are healers, the inability of physicians to prevent death does not imply that they are free to help cause death” (Reardon). In other words, by giving euthanasia physicians are not keeping the oath they made when they became physicians it is wrong to not keep that promise to ill people and doing something that they do not believe in. They took an oath that they should stand on as long as they are practicing medicine.

Sitting in the doctor’s office awaiting the results, the results no one wanting to hear. After thirty minutes of silence the doctor comes in sits down and breaks the hard news. The verdict is stage 4 lung cancer and suddenly the patient is told that they have six months left to live. That’s 6 months of pain and suffering and treatments, a life no one wants to live. On top of all that pain, suffering, appointments, and sick days how can someone possibly make time for the people and the moments in life that truly count. Mind starts boggling and there is no way that they want their family to see and remember them like that, in that condition. They want to be remembered for the fun loving, crazy person they were before this awful diagnosis but how does one avoid that! This is where the Death with Dignity act comes in. If a patient had 6 short months left on this earth, and they could choose a day to end the suffering and have a plan and be able to spend the last of their days with family and friends the way they wanted to, would they do it or would they sit and wait not knowing when their last day really may be? Brittany Maynard did and she says “Right now it’s a choice that’s only available to some Americans, which is really unethical.” (Maynard 2014).

In the past years, assisted suicide has been an issue of large controversies throughout many countries. However, something that I believe is one of the main problems, is that many people are confused between two different ideas – assisted suicide and euthanasia. Assisted suicide is basically when a patient who suffers an incurable disease, which causes a lot of pain, is given the necessary drugs to commit suicide. However, the patient must make the final act of ingesting the drugs, by his own means and can't be helped by anyone else. Euthanasia, on the other hand, is when another person is the one who actually takes the final move in finishing the patient’s life. As we can

"Warren Hauser is dying. Should the Supreme Court decide that terminally ill Americans have a constitutional right to commit suicide with a doctor's help, he would qualify. Emphysema and valvular heart disease have left him debilitated and physically dependent" (Byock). For terminally ill patients like Warren, where death is inevitable and would be less painful than living, euthanasia should be a legal option.