Euthanasia Essay, Research Paper

EUTHANASIAAn eighty-seven year old grandmother on a respirator, a newborn child with AIDS,and a father in a coma; all put to death by respectable doctors with the O.K. of their families. But isit really |O.K.X? Euthanasia, or doctor-assisted suicide, has become as common as jumping off of afifteen story building or taking a gun to one+s own head. Certainly society frowns upon suicide, but yetputting an old lady or a man in a coma to death is being accepted every day. Society knows that suicideis bad, but euthanasia is even worse. The guilt and blame of a lost life is falling on the hands ofdoctor+s that we are supposed to trust, and even worse, the family members themselves. A doctor is to beknown as a healer, not an agent of death. A family is supposed to love and support, not kill andinherit. Every person makes the light of the world brighter. The world needs everyone+s power andcontribution. It+s the power and energy of the elderly, and the s!trength and will of the ill, that give the world life. The light has become very dim with the crime andcorruption in today+s world, we can+t afford to throw lives away because some think they+re meaningless. If we continue to accept the merciless killings and suicides of the helpless but powerful, the light willsoon burn out. There will be no energy in the world. Euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide should notbe accepted or allowed by the government and people of the United States.Statistics show thatseventy-three percent of the U.S. population approved of some form of euthanasia. This is usedconstantly in debates to pass laws for making euthanasia legal. But the people are deceived by thisnumber. When the poll was taken, the people were asked if they approved of |some formX of euthanasia. There are two forms of euthanasia, active and passive. It is the passive euthanasia that many people areaccepting, the less harsh of the two. That+s why people generally! say they approve of it. If a separate question was asked or the people were informed of the difference,we would find that only thirty-eight percent of the population approves of active suicide, as used byKavorkian. So the fact that people approve of euthanasia is irrelevant because only thirty-eight percentwould actually pass a law if they knew that Kavorkian+s methods would be allowed.However, it issaid that passive euthanasia, suicide by the removal of life support, is a long-time practice forhospitalized patients. But does this make it O.K?I should think not. Many things have been accepted andpracticed in the world, and many of them have become illegal. Not too long ago a teenager could drinkwhenever he wanted. Now we have laws to regulate the drinking age. This is the same type of thing,something terrible has going on for too long now. We need to put a stop to the killings with a law. Just because something has been allowed and occurring for a long t!ime doesn+t mean that it+s O.K.Also, there is the issue of living wills. A living will is a documentthat protects the right of choice in end of life matters for patients. And not everyone has a livingwill when they become ill even though they don+t want to live through the agony and pain. They justdon+t think to make one or plan on being ill and incompetent. But with or without a living will, it+sjust not right to end a life, even if it+s one+s own. Many think that they should be able to decide ontheir own, but what about their families. The family will spend the rest of their lives wondering inagony and pain about whether or not a cure would have been found or if the patient would have made it outof the coma. It wouldn+t be right to spread the pain by adding to the fire.But some say, |Why wastethe money and extend the pain and agony by keeping someone on a machine?X We need to look at life in amore positive way. We need to weigh the matters evenl!y. What+s more important, the life of a family member or trying to save money and pain. Clearly it isthe life, nothing is more important than that. Approximately one billion dollars is spent on lifesupport patients annually. But the cost of keeping people alive is irrelevant if there is a chance thatthey may be cured or come out of a coma.More importantly, we need to look at the reasons why it+sused, not just what people think about it. Life and death is a huge issue, a person can+t afford to bepressured into a drastic decision about their life. Whether it+s unconscious or not, doctors, familyfriends may pressure a patient to choose death. We need to eliminate the option or we+ll always have theissue of whether or not the patient was pressured into suicide. That is certainly not right. Itprobably doesn+t make sense that family members would actually pressure a loved one into suicide, butmoney is the real issue. The doctors can make a lot of money and the f!amilies will save on medical bills while inheriting a lot of money and belongings. Think about thedisabled, retarded, unassertive, poor, and even the elderly. All very vulnerable to an influentialperson. Yes, even little ol grandma. Americans aged eighty-five and older is the largest categoryfaced with euthanasia. In 1950 there were over a half of a million Americans aged eighty-five andolder and by 1990 that number grew to 3.1 million. With the medical technology we have and the progresswe are making to improve today, the number of Americans older than eighty-five will be more than twicethat of 1990 in the year 2005. We are spending millions of dollars for medical technology to save lives,we shouldn+t let live be thrown away when hard working citizens are paying taxes to help keep themalive. Also, the reasons that euthanasia is used may just be flat out wrong. Many times, a patient

gives up their life because they feel like a burden to their family. !If this is so, what has the world come to when the people that a patient has known, loved, andrespected for so long, makes them feel like a burden. A person is supposed to be able to go to theirfamily for support, that+s what a family is all about. Sticking together and getting through problemsthe right way, not ending one+s life. Many times a patient feels like a burden because of treatmentcosts. The cost of treatment is way too high for many patients to afford, so they go to their families. But rather than support and help, the patient gets resistance and feels as though they have become aburden. This causes them to want to turn to death, rather than trouble the one group of people thatare supposed to be there for help in times of need.Furthermore, without passive euthanasia millionsof lives can be saved. A law has to be made to stop these |mercy killingsX. There are thousands ofpeople that are seriously hospitalized with a terminal disease or a co!ma. An estimated ten-thousand of these hospitalized patients die daily. Seventy percent of thesedeaths are a direct result of |secretlyX withdrawing life support. Yes, everyday a number of patientsdie from a family member paying a visit to them and |pulling the plugX while the doctor isn+t around. It+s bad enough that we have so many troubles with general homicides and suicides, but now it+s time toconcern ourselves with the killings that are going on in hospitals. The institution that we go to forgood health, security, and treatment is doing just the opposite and it needs to be stopped. If a law ispassed that makes euthanasia illegal, then people will definitely think twice before helping someoneend their life. There has to be price to pay for helping one commit suicide, it should not be takenlightly. By passing a law against euthanasia, thousand of lives will be saved. Next is the issueof active euthanasia, actively taking measures to help !end the life of another. This is the type of euthanasia practiced by Doctor Jack Kavorkian and arguedabout all over the world. Many important issues surface when discussing active euthanasia.First,there is the argument that a person has the right to choose. Each individual should be able to make thedecision of whether or not they want to live in pain or die with dignity. Otherwise people are justlike robots that are controlled by laws, society and always have to do what others think is right. Butis giving up a life and committing suicide really dignified? There is always the chance of coming out ofa coma and finding a cure for a disease. Thousands of doctors are working to find cures for everyterminal disease all over the world. When there+s the chance of being cured like there always is, thereis no reason to commit suicide. No matter how anyone looks at it or says it, suicide is not dignified. Everyone has the right to choose, but it the choices are how t!o lead and live their life, not end it. And there is nothing robotic about following laws that are madeto protect the people and the society they live in. Choices about how one+s life will end aren+t to bemade by oneself, they can choose how to lead their life but there is no dignity gained by committingsuicide.Secondly, just because something is considered to be sinful by the Bible or in any otherreligion, doesn+t mean it should be a crime. We live in a democracy where the people, of all religions,make the laws. They shouldn+t be based on any religion or religious book. But we+re not talking aboutthe sin of suicide, where talking about euthanasia. Euthanasia is assisted suicide, but isn+t that justa nice name for homicide. Suicide is killing oneself, but how can you assist yourself. The assistant isanother person who is guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. Laws are already passed against murder. When someone takes part in euthanasia they+re not going to! be on trial for attempted suicide because they weren+t trying to kill themselves, they were taking thelife of another. It+s murder and there+s no other way to look at it.Next is the belief that activeeuthanasia should be tolerated in order to save agony and pain for both the family and patient. No oneshould have to go through so much agony over a long period of time. Many think that it+s torture not tohelp dying patients. Kavorkian accused opposing physicians of being |Nazi doctorsX who torture andexperiment with the poor and unfortunate. However, what is the agony and pain? It is the agony andpain of death and it has to be faced either way, but it shouldn+t be because of a suicide. We shouldface the pain and agony with strength and determination. The patients need to be determined to hang onand fight for cures. It+s not torture to keep someone alive in hopes of a cure. And if a patient isthat ill, then they aren+t really going through that much ph!ysical pain, it+s the mental and emotional states of patients that need to be secured. That+s the reasonmany turn to suicide, they are unhappy with their lives so they begin to decline mentally andemotionally. And as far as experimenting goes, no experimental drug or procedure is forced upon anypatient, including the elderly and incompetent. And what do they have to lose anyway? Most don+t mindusing experimental drugs because it just may be the cure they+re looking for. There is nothing |NaziXabout testing drugs and cures in hopes of saving a life. There is no torture or direct result ofdeath. So, in actuality there is no physical agony or pain saved in euthanasia because that+s not whatthe patients are going through. It just shortens the mental and physical pain that can be helped inother ways than death. Either way, suicide is no answer to pain.