Euthanasia Is Wrong

Imagine laying in a hospital bed living everyday in extreme pain with no hope of getting better. This scenario explains what many people go through everyday, which is a living with a terminal illness. M. Lee, a science historian, and Alexander Stingl a sociologist, define terminal illness as “an illness from which the patient is not expected to recover even with treatment. As the illness progresses death is inevitable” (1). There are not many options for the terminally ill besides dying a slow and painful death, but assisted suicide could be best option for these patients. Assisted suicide is “any case in which a doctor gives a patient (usually someone with a terminal illness) the means to carry out their own suicide by using a lethal dose of medication” (Lee and Stingl 1). Some feel that assisted suicide is unnecessary because it is too great of a controversy and will only cause problems in society. However, assisted suicide should be legal in the United States as long as there are strict regulations to accompany it.

Although, pain can be excoriating and unfathomable thus, leaves the patient with no choice but to live with it and contemplate whether to terminate his or her life by performing euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide. Apparently, the patient has right to die if he or she cannot endure physical or mental pain. Imagine, a patient is just barely lingering on the battle between life and death, one should able to make a decision to move into eternity with dignity, without suffering or pain, with their loved one present. So I could consider this technique as killing/letting die because the patient requests physician and physician has a duty to respect patient’s request by letting him/her to die. Killing or letting die does not matter as long as the patient requests to the physician.

The patient’s life is no longer ordinary: he does not go to work, he does not go out to see friends or family, and he needs help with the tasks that he deemed easy before his illness, such as going to the bathroom or even eating (Lawton 88). Life revolves around his illness. The focus on his illness brings about a loss of identity for the patient. Someone who is terminally ill may feel that the disease is the first or only thing people notice about him. He cannot be seen for his interests or his hobbies because he can no longer do them. Family members and nurses of those in hospice care have noted that when a patient’s suffering becomes too much for them to bear, they retreat into themselves. Multiple patients in the field studies completed by Lawton stopped eating or drinking, and did not communicate with others; one patient was said to “close her eyes and totally ignore [the nursing staff]” when they came into the room, and another chose to stop talking entirely (Lawton 130-131). They have simply given up, and they wish in those moments to no longer feel the pain of the illness. Thus, many make the request to be sedated in their last days (Lawton 127). The pain that they feel and the loss of their dignity because they are bed-ridden leads them to choose unconsciousness at the end of their life. Physician-assisted suicide would

Terminally ill individuals suffer during their last days, so most of them decide to end their lives. Physician-assisted suicide is the voluntary termination of one’s own life by the administration of a lethal substance. Some believe that if the physician-assisted suicide is legal in the country, it will give the insurance companies more money, also that some physicians will end patients live without their concern; however, terminally ill individuals shouldn’t suffer and live with pain, likewise the patients live with their body deteriorating and that is not quality of life.

Furthermore, the right to die, according to the book, Euthanasia, by Linda Jackson, is considered a basic human right. Medical professionals have claimed to have had their patients not wish to undergo the heaviness of sedation. Today, relationships between doctors and their patients have appeared to be more equal, instead of just relying on the doctor, when it comes to making decisions about the patient’s health (Jackson 30). Given these points, allowing euthanasia to terminally ill patients would give them the chance to choose to end their distress, which therefore allows the right to die and the right to decide which type of treatment the patient would receive.

Individuals with a terminal illness will typically go through the seven emotional stages of while coming to terms with their condition; shock, denial, bargaining, guilt, anger, depression, and acceptance. Acceptance varies by the individual and has many different meanings. Some individuals try to make the time they have left last as long as possible while others focus on completing goals previously set in their life time. Some will seek forgiveness whether it be from their god(s) or from family and friends. But for a select few, acceptance means that they will try to take control of when they will pass away. To take control of something so trivial, they may look to family, friends, or even their physician. The act of voluntary termination of one’s life with the assistance of a medical care personal is referred to as physician assisted suicide, physician assisted death, or euthanasia. Physician assisted suicide allows patients to take control of what happens before and after death. It allows the patient to enjoy the dwindling life they have left and can be regulated by the government.

Agony due to terminal illness is one of the main reason why people think about assisted suicide. Life is too beautiful to be in pain. Agony brings people down into the deepest and darkest side of an individual. Yes, pain can be relieved by medications that stabilizes pain but it never cures the pain. Terminally ill patients sometimes become desperate on how they can relieve pain. Nurses give medications to alleviate pain, however when an individual is on high doses of pain medication, they build tolerance to the medications. Then caregivers need to increase the dose of pain medication that build more tolerance to pain. Patients at times are drugged to the point that they don’t even know who they are anymore. To the point that their ability to function well is jeopardies. I have witnessed patient’s agony and suffering that all they do is sleep, eat a little and scream due to the continues discomfort that they are in. Is that what you call life? Do we have a choice as an individual? Where is dignity of living life? I will say “Yes” We have a choice. I rather not see my loved one alive in this world which means I will not able to hug them, tell them how important they are to me, rather than having them around but they are sad, in pain and miserable. I do not recall being in agony is called living life, I call it torture and

Another, for prescribing physicians make a deciding factor of the disease, Once a patient is approved by physician- a patient can finally have the authority and independence, an option whether he or she want to be euthanized. Weir claims some patients continously and persistently cannot alleviate all the pain and dying patients that are suffering. would have to process think rationally to request to die. Furthermore, due to moral differences on public and legal policy should permit one but not the other? As opposed to supporters of assisted suicide, some argue that a patient must meet the final act resulting the death . In this case may be true, but there are greater certainty than when a patient “performs that act” (Weir,87) All things considered,

All Americans are guaranteed civil rights under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Competent, terminally ill patients should have the right to choose to end their life hence, putting an end to their suffering. For this reason, physician assisted suicide and euthanasia are compassionate responses to a terminally ill patient’s unbearable suffering.

Is it right or wrong for someone to pick how and when somebody dies? Should that person or the family be able to choose? In a recent survey performed by the Pew Research Center, they asked if the people approve or disapproved of laws that allow doctor-assisted suicide. The results stated that forty-nine percent of people disapproved of the laws and forty-seven percent approved (Schadenberg, para. 3). If a patient is terminally ill, he or she should have the right to choose between life and death.

Say someone had a close family member who was very ill. This person was suffering from an incurable disease and had wished to die. After being given the full consent of permitting this person's death, would you "kill" them? This practice would be known as Euthanasia, the act of deliberately ending one's life to relieve suffering. Euthanasia can be further broken down into different types: active euthanasia – where a person intentionally and directly causes a patient's death, for example, injecting a lethal dose; passive euthanasia – where a person indirectly causes a patient's death by allowing them to die, for example, withhold or withdraw treatment that would sustain a patient's life. It is then further broken down based on the circumstances

As patients come closer to the end of their lives, certain organs stop performing as well as they use to. People are unable to do simple tasks like putting on clothes, going to the restroom without assistance, eat on our own, and sometimes even breathe without the help of a machine. Needing to depend on someone for everything suddenly brings feelings of helplessness much like an infant feels. It is easy to see why some patients with terminal illnesses would seek any type of relief from this hardship, even if that relief is suicide. Euthanasia or assisted suicide is where a physician would give a patient an aid in dying. “Assisted suicide is a controversial medical and ethical issue based on the question of whether, in certain situations,

“She made the decision that her existence had lost its meaning. And you cannot judge that. “ - Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Euthanasia is a practice that has been acceptable as far back as the 5th century A.D. Many largely influential cultural groups such as the Greeks, the Romans and the Pagans had no established regard for the grandeur of human life and frequently participated in abortions, and involuntary and voluntary mercy killings. Many physicians completely disregarded the Hippocratic Oath in order to administer the poison their patients requested to end the prolonged pain and suffering (Historical Timeline). Although some people and doctors believe that assisted suicide and euthanasia is unethical and immoral as would be difficult to regulate,

According to the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of ‘liberty,’ “The decision how and when to die is one of the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, a choice central to personal dignity and autonomy.” ( Thiroux & Krasemann, p.184). This law protects the right of the terminally ill patients to receive lethal amounts of medications, so they can die on their own terms however best suited. Morally utilitarian believes in making life better for someone by improving the good things that would reduce pain and creates happiness. Will had a previous experience with his mother suffering from the same disease pattern of cancer. I have worked on the medical unit before the oncology wing was implemented and I have cared for many

Euthanasia is criminal and does not agree with the morals of people today. Ed Feinstein, senior rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California states that, “It [prayer] recognizes God as the one who decides ‘Who will live and who will die’” (Wood 3 added brackets). Assisted suicide is a peculiar process and not the intended way to die. The constitution of India comments in Article 21 on the right to life: