Legalization Of Euthanasia example essay topic

IMAGINE a man, 80 years old, who has just been informed by his doctor that he has contracted a deadly and incurable disease. He is told that from then on, his condition will deteriorate. The disease will cause increased pain and while drugs will blunt the agony for a while, in the final stages of the illness, he will be in great pain until he finally dies. The old man reacts by illegally signing a contract giving his doctor permission to administer a lethal injection when the pain becomes too much. This action is called EUTHANASIA or "mercy killing". Euthanasia is defined as the deliberate act of ending a person's suffering by killing them.

Based on my moral principles, I am completely against euthanasia and I believe it would be a mistake to legalize it. Let's consider the above situation a little closer. The old man was informed that he has a terminal illness and absolutely no hope of recovery. Although it may be bit naive of me, I believe that you should never say die.

Who's to say what could happen in the upcoming future? In any euthanasia case, I don't think we could ever really guarantee the premises that someone will positively die. It is a known fact that on occasion "incurably" sick persons recover for unknown reasons. Besides, we are living in a time where medical discoveries are being made everyday. With such advancements, an illness incurable today may be curable tomorrow. This is definitely a cause for hope, so why do people, due to unbearable circumstances, find no reason to live any longer?

Don't you want to be alive, surrounded by people you love for as long as you can? Life is a thing to cherish, a precious gift that shouldn't be taken for granted. Under no circumstances do humans have the moral right to destroy ones own life, or the life of another. Back to the situation, the old man reacted by illegally giving his doctor permission to euthanize him.

Today euthanasia is legal in only one country. Why? Well, if you break it down, euthanasia or mercy killing, is basically murder. Under law, all forms of murder are treated as a criminal offense.

The very act of assisting someone in dying is a form of punishable homicide, but euthanasia is more than just giving someone assistance in suicide, it's actually carrying out the task of ending their life! Some people may say that euthanasia should be personal right, the liberty to decide ones own fate. But no where in the constitution does it give people the freedom to take another's life. That's why people such as Dr. Kevorkian are tried for murder when it's proven they had a hand in euthanasia. Dr. Kevorkian, an advocate of euthanasia, has been criminally tried several times for his practice of euthanasia; he has killed many people, and been in and out of prison numerous times. If euthanasia were made legal, it would be giving people the right to kill others, which is wrong in any situation.

So once again back to the story, the man gave his physician or doctor permission to use euthanasia on him. So he was asking his doctor, a person whose job is to save lives, to kill him. It needs to be emphasized how wrong euthanasia is on the part of the physicians. Health-care provider's professional obligation is to prevent death, not cause it.

Euthanasia is inconsistent with all roles of care giving and healing. If mercy killing was allowed, I'm afraid that a doctor's focus might change, and they wouldn't be as committed to saving lives. There is also always the risk that this power of justified killing (euthanasia) would be abused. For example, patients might be coerced into suicide due to financial pressure or a fear of burdening their families. Usually there is always a risk of abuse due to individual freedoms, but a liberty such as euthanasia could have horrible results. Obviously the legalization of euthanasia would do more harm than good.

In today's society, where the primary focus is to always move forward, it would be illogical to legalize something a horrible as euthanasia, which would only be a step backward. I think that instead of supporting euthanasia, an action that hastens death, wouldn't our time be better spent trying to prolong life?