Mercy Killing Essay, Research Paper

To start my essay on mercy killing, I must say, there are too many situations to just have one opinion on the matter.

Mercy killing, or the correct term Euthanasia , is currently illegal in Canada. Though activists keep trying to legalize it, it will be a long time before anything happens. Mercy killing, though prominent on recent CBC newscasts, has been around since before 1 BC. Wars were a very big factor for them, and there were many cases everyday. With no local pain killers, and infection reaping soldiers, death was a very attractive option. Though even then, when most were positive towards euthanasia, still some found it disgusting, and totally unnecessary.

Hippocrates (460-370 BCE), an ancient Greek physician, who in his famous oath states that “I will not prescribe a deadly drug to please someone, nor give advice that may cause his death.” Other religions such as Christian, Jewish, and Muslim philosophers opposed it. It was looked at as just another form of murder.

During the Renaissance, 1478-1535, when a patient has a torturous and incurable illness, the patient has the option to die, either through starvation or opium. Some doctors believed at the time, that, it was the nurse s duty to cure, and mend, but to also relieve pain and suffering. Some believed euthanasia was the answer.

The point is, opinions are changing all the time, and this 22nd century could be the one were we put dramatic AIDS patients to death. I can t just say that I unconditionally believe that people should be killed always in some situations. There are too many conditions and death is a far too touchy subject. However I will say, that if the person wills it, and doctors, and families agree to end it, then do it. That s a very broad statement.

But people can look at it in different ways, what about Christian believers, can t God create a miracle during those last days? Or what about the families of these people, do they need them? Or what if the persons mind is so delusional that they can t realize that in a few days they will be fine.

There are too many possibilities, and too many outcomes. You just have to access each situation. In the poem David I though that mercy killing was acceptable, as the was no chance of survival, and he would be dead very soon. He wanted to die, and was in a calm state of mind. It was his decision.