Available With The Legalization Of Euthanasia example essay topic

Whether or not euthanasia should be legalized is one of the most debated issues in the United States. Euthanasia provides a way for humans in unbearable and incurable situations to be relieved of their pain. In June 1997, the US Supreme Court ruled that there is neither a constitutional right nor a constitutional prohibition to euthanasia. This permitted Oregon to experiment with legalizing it. During this decade, most other states have consistently opposed legalization.

I am a supporter of euthanasia and feel that it is a person's right to end their suffering if they feel that it is too great to live with. Euthanasia would provide a peaceful death for a suffering person. The legalization and acceptance of euthanasia would benefit humanity and would be a turn for the better. Once legalized, euthanasia will come out into the open and be an official medical procedure. People will come out into the open and be an official medical procedure. People will feel assured that in the future, if they ever become terminally ill, they may choose euthanasia instead of an insufferable life.

These people will find refuge in the knowledge that legal, physician-aided help is accessible. Many diseases cannot be cured by modern medicine, such as advanced AIDS, terminal cancer, and multiple sclerosis. These conditions remain a certain death sentence and leave the patient in a constant state of pain. I can see many reasons to support euthanasia. These reasons include that the patient may feel the shame of being cared for as if they were an infant. Others simply want to die with the dignity before they become sick.

Proponents of euthanasia believe that the patient has the right to end their life when it is known that there will not be any recovery, and death is imminent. They believe that a human being possesses the right to die in self-respect and a painless death rather than suffer endlessly knowing full well that they will not recover. Sidney Hook, a professor of philosophy at New York University states in In Defense of Voluntary Euthanasia that, "Each one should be permitted to make his own choice-especially when no one else is harmed by it. The responsibility for the decision, whether deemed wise or foolish, must be with the chooser". This supports the fact that everyone has civil rights and liberties. No one can decide who should die and who should not.

Everyone controls his / her own life and should be free to decide. After considering the arguments in favor of euthanasia, the person should also look at the arguments against it. When talking about euthanasia, one can consider person religious values. Many religious groups believe that God gave life; therefore, only God should take away life. They also believe that human suffering can have a positive value for the terminally ill person.

I personally feel that if there is a God he would find no fault in man for attempting to relieve his own pain. God shows love and tolerance and would not wish to see anyone in agony. Others argue that ending a life short of its natural death robs the person of valuable time spent with family and friends; however, I feel that the last period of one's life should not be one of suffering unbearable pain. Euthanasia should be a legal practice.

We are a democratic country, and we, as free individuals should have the right to decide for ourselves whether or not to terminate the lives of our loved ones or ourselves. Thomas Garret, a vocal advocate of this practice, co-authored a book called Health Care Ethics, he states", Although there is ethically a presumptive obligation against cooperating by supplying the means of death, we recognize the fact that there are cases where neither healing nor comforting are possible. Indeed, in these cases the refusal to actively participate may be equivalent to dooming the patient to useless agony". When someone under terminal conditions asks to die, it is far more humane to honor that request than to deny it. Who wants to spend their last days lying in a hospital bed wasting away to something hardly recognizable as a human being? Those individuals must knowingly spend the rest of their lives and waking hours expecting and dreading their death to come.

The very thought insults the whole concept of what it means to be human. With legalization, people will be able to search in the open and not in the shadows of the law. Family members will not be afraid of punishment for employing the means to end the unbearable pains of loved ones. The knowledge of death confronts our doubts, our fears, and our own powerlessness. Freedom of choice displays a basic right to all people; however, people today cannot choose to end their unendurable life. The choice to continue to live in pain or to die and end the suffering is available with the legalization of euthanasia.