Argumentative Essay On Euthanasia

Note: For the purpose of this writing I will focus only on active euthanasia with regard to the terminally ill.

Physician assisted suicide is “the voluntary termination of one’s own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician” (“Medical Definition of Physician-Assisted…”). Throughout the years, assisted suicide has been a slippery slope for Americans to accept, therefore, making individuals believe this practice is murder while nations across the world have been carrying this out well before the United States planted their hands on the idea. On that account, euthanasia is only legal in six different states, while it is strictly illegal in the other 44 because of the racking up reasons individuals have implanted in their brains (“State-by-State…”). Every person has a specific outlook on mercy killing, although, physician assisted suicide is a patient's given right if they are terminally ill.

Physician-Assisted Suicide has always been a topic of great debate among individuals. Not only a contemporary issue, assisted-suicide, or euthanasia, has been practiced since the time of ancient Greeks and Romans; physicians often participated in the suicide of their patients for merciful reasons (Kopelman and De Ville 1). Euthanasia, which means “good death”, had a broader meaning than what we use it for today. According to Manning, it was “essential that death be met in a psychologically balanced state of mind, under composed circumstances, in a condition of self-control” (6). In other words, it was the manner in which one died rather than the method death was delivered that was important to the Greeks and Romans. Euthanasia did not have the negative stigma that suicide had attached to it, rather, it was advocated for by the ancients, granted that it was done for the right reasons.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are never acceptable acts of mercy. They always gravely exploit the suffering and desperate, extinguishing life in the name of the ‘quality of life’ itself. - Pope john Paul

Euthanasia as one of the ongoing controversies emanating from its diverse definitions has been debated since the mankind came up with the idea of ending one’s life for different purposes. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary fully defines euthanasia as the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy (“Euthanasia”). Similar to euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide would be the act of taking one’s life purposely, with the aid of a physician (McDougall 1). Depending on the patient’s consent, euthanasia may be voluntary, non-voluntary or involuntary. Patient’s consent qualifies the practice as voluntary; it may be non-voluntary

In 1997, Oregon passed The Oregon Death With Dignity Act, which became the first law to permit physician-assisted suicide. Since then, six other states in the U.S. have joined Oregon. The topic debates that assisted death goes against religion and that it devalues human life. Many churches will tell people that if anyone commits suicide, that person will be condemned to hell. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) stated, “The movement to legalize euthanasia does not enhance freedom or self-determination because many of those fighting to kill themselves are depressed and need treatment or may be unduly influenced by familial, societal, or institutional pressures to end their lives. Furthermore, one cannot enhance human freedom and dignity by devaluing human life, the bishops explain” (“Euthanasia Devalues Human”). However, that’s far from the truth, people that choose assisted death have one hundred percent control of the whole process. Because most of the country doesn’t fully agree with physician-assisted death, it continues to be very controversial.

Grey’s Anatomy fans may remember an episode in season six in which there was a patient that was grappling with terminal lung cancer, she then decided that she wanted to end her life. Not by jumping off a bridge or shooting herself, but by a lethal injection. She asked her doctor, Teddy if she would sign off, but the rule with physician aided suicide is that you need two signatures. This caused conflict in the hospital between moral values and ethics. Over the past few decades, assisted death has been a debate in the government. Is it murder? Is it ethically ok? In today’s world, the controversy of physician aided death (PAD) is a problem that should be decided on once and for all.

When a person commits an act of euthanasia he believes the present existence is so bad that the person would be better off dead or believes that until he intervenes and ends her life, it will progress to be so bad that she would feel better off dead. Euthanasia is the act of assisted

Euthanasia is the practice of ending an individual's life in order to relieve them from an incurable disease or unbearable suffering. The term euthanasia is derived from the Greek word for "good death" and originally referred to as “intentional killing” ( Patelarou, Vardavas, Fioraki, Alegakis, Dafermou, & Ntzilepi, 2009). Euthanasia is a controversial topic which has raised a great deal of debate globally. Although euthanasia has received great exposure in the professional media, there are some sticky points that lack clarity and need to be addressed. Euthanasia is a divisive topic, and different interpretations of its meaning, depend on whether the person supports it or not. While a few societies have accepted euthanasia, there are

1]Euthanasia, derived from Greek literally means good death. It is the act or practice of killing someone who is terminally ill or injured in order to prevent any more suffering. Some people could call it mercy killing. But is killing someone prematurely right? Why haven't more countries legalized euthanasia? Ask someone involved in caring of the terminally ill; they would simply argue that it is a slippery slope to assisted murder.

When people hear the words euthanasia, mercy killing or physician-assisted suicide, they immediately start to think that it will open doors to countless deaths of depressed, suicidal individuals or people who are think life would be better off if they died. They feel like there will be a switch where it starts off as a voluntary procedure, but soon becomes something one can be forced to do. However, critics look over the fact that euthanasia is voluntary, and it’s a person’s right to decide what happens with their body. As stated by Sue Rodriguez, a Canadian advocate for PAS, “If I cannot give consent to my own death, whose body is this? Who owns my life?” (Sue Rodriguez AZ Quotes).

Most of us have been in the position where our pets fall very ill and old. What did we do? Some of us put them down, letting them rest peacefully. Others? We let them live on to carry out their lives naturally. Now think deeper. Is this something we do to humans also? Euthanasia. A singular word with a huge controversial stance. Euthanasia is the practice of physician-assisted suicide to the terminally ill. With such a broad history, the topic has taken the world by storm.

    America’s founding fathers declared that every person had certain inalienable rights they are born with and cannot be separated from. They listed citizens’ rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today's government must decide if a right to life equates to a right to death.

Some believe that euthanasia should be ethically viewed similarly to suicide because of the idea of choosing to end one’s own life, which is considered unethical. However, some oppose this belief, and believe

Voluntary euthanasia, or physician-assisted suicide, has been a controversial issue for many years. It usually involves ending a patient’s life early to relieve their illness. Most of the controversy stemmed from personal values like ethics or religion. The euthanasia debate puts a huge emphasis on what doctors should do for their patients and how much a person’s life is worth. Supporters of euthanasia primarily focus on cost and pain alleviation. Opponents of euthanasia tend to focus on morality. Whether euthanasia is legal or not could significantly affect future generations’ attitudes about death. Euthanasia should be legalized nationally because it helps patients that could be in unimaginable pain, offers more options for more people, and it is relatively inexpensive compared to the alternatives.