Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are very complex issues in our society.A lot of individuals may be confused about the difference between the two.The term euthanasia means "good death" in ancient Greek and consists of a physician taking someone's life without causing them pain.This is usually done by giving the patient a lethal injection.Whereas physician-assisted suicide consists of a physician simply giving a patient the right kind and amount of prescription drugs that are needed for painlessly ending their own life.This allows the patient to end their life on their own terms.Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide have mainly been looked at from two different angles.Is it an ethical and/or moral way in which to end a human life.And they have also been looked at from a religious perspective.Many Christians have argued against euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide and some followers of other religions have also taken a stand against euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide also.I am against the legalization of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide here in the U.S. and I would like it to be banned in Oregon (euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide is currently legal in the state of Oregon due to the "Death with Dignitiy Act" some day soon.But there are very good arguments coming from both sides of this complex issue.Some of which I was previously unaware of before our class discussion and my research.Margaret Somerville a Gale Professor of Law and professor in the faculty of medicine at the McGill University Centre for Medicine, Ethics, and Law in Montreal, Canada published an argument against the legalization of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide entitled "The Terminally Ill Should Not Be Allowed to Choose Euthanasia" in which she expresses her thoughts on why euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide should not be legalized.She states that the legalization of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide would change our societies' overall view of death.She states that society as a whole views death as a mystery but with the legalization of euthanasia would instead view death as a problem that simply requires a solution through the use of technology.She also mentions that giving all individuals of age the option to end their own life at anytime is just too big of a responsibility.This is because many individuals who are terminally ill or believe they are dying experience feelings of anxiety and fear because they have no control over what's happening.But with the legalization of euthanasia individuals could avoid their fear by controlling how, when, and where they die.She insists that human beings love the idea of control and euthanasia could possibly become an individual's answer to "how can I control my death".This way of thinking could lead to individuals ending their lives prematurely before all possible treatments of their condition have been carried out because they fear the pain, hardship, and hopelessness they may experience in the near future.Patients need to know that their physicians are they to help them and not inflict death.This perception of doctors would change if euthanasia was legalized and create a serious issue of mistrust between patients, society, and physicians.Training current physicians and medical students to administer lethal injections to patients could also result in these individuals taking human life in a routine manner.Of all the individuals who have requested euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide under Oregon's "Death with Dignity Act" since 2005 forty-six percent of those individuals wished to live after receiving the proper care and pain management.This shows that many individuals who may wish to die are actually just in a very vulnerable state in which they are more than likely also depressed and also feeling pain simultaneously possibly leading to impaired judgment.And how a society treats these individuals exhibits that societie's true morals and ethics.Essentially does a society wish to treat and work with terminally ill and/or depressed individuals or send them the message that they are a burden and should simply end their own life.This article came from the opposing viewpoints database.
Contrary to some of the views presented above many individuals choose to present an argument that euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide can be used responsibly by patients and physicians.And that these options would only be utilized in the most extreme situations of sickness, pain, paralysis, and debilitative chronic illnesses and diseases.James D. Torr presents some of these viewpoints in his article entitled "Euthanasia is Ethical" on the opposing viewpoints database.He states that some individuals experiencing chronic illness experience excruciating pain and discomfort but also do not wish to take drugs that leave them weary and incoherent.It is also somewhat unfair to force individuals who at one time were healthy, strong, and totally independent adults to feel like a burden on their family and/or society.They may experience extreme emotional despair through having to all of a sudden depend on other people all of the time.Human beings as mentioned once above love to think they have some form of control over almost every aspect of their lives.Therefore some individuals who are terminally ill may feel as though they have no control over the progression of their illness, disease, debilitation and experience unimaginable amount of fear when thinking about the progression of their condition and the damage it could do.James D. Torr also emphasizes that an individual would have to provide evidence that their life and the pain (emotional and physical) they are experiencing is absolutely intolerable.Explaining that life would only be voluntary ended through euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the most extreme cases when the patient has no hope for a descent life again.Also no one can truly know how much pain a person is in unless they are that person.So the author claims that the decision to end one's life solely rests with that individual in the very end and not with other members of society and/or so-called experts on the subject.Here is one example of a case in which the patient would be granted the right to voluntarily end their life."A mother of seven children, continually exhausted and bedridden at home with a gaping, foul-smelling, open wound in her abdomen, who can no longer eat, and who no longer finds any meaning in her fight against ovarian cancer" (direct quote from James D. Torr).People against euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide argue that the lives of all human beings are sacred but this does not take into consideration situations in which an individual's suffering is so great that living seems pointless and extremely unenjoyable.It may be hard to accept euthanasia and/or physician-assisted suicide as the best option for terminally ill individuals but in the most extreme cases it may be the kindest and most sympathetic response to individuals in extreme pain and/or discomfort.
After listening to arguments from both sides on this issue I am thankfully more educated on the subject but still cannot change my original viewpoint.This is due to my religious beliefs in particular and the fact that the idea of euthanasia in general just kind of freaks me out.I guess i'm not exactly the most trustworthy person at all times and I feel like doctors and physicians could have and will continue to abuse this ability to end the lives of individuals.Even though this might occur in only the rarest of cases it has nonetheless already ocurred.With one British doctor being charged for murder for taking the lives of fifteen of his patients against their request while many people speculated that he killed more like one-hundred people instead.I mean who really knows what's going through the mind of a doctor in that position.When they continue to end more and more lives will they get used to it?Will they become desensitized to essentially killing these people?Usually when criminals and serial murderers end life multiple times they simply get used to it making the next time easier than the time before that.Honestly it's hard to really say if Dr.Jack Kevorkian was just a man who wanted to help individuals who were in emotional/physical pain or if maybe he had some sick fascination with killing individuals and attempted to find a way in which he could end life and get away with it.My main reason for being against euthanasia is because of my religious beliefs.I don't think any human being has the right to end their own life.Nor do I think any human being has the right to end the life of another human being because I do not believe our lives necessarily belong to us.Instead my belief that God granted us life leads me to believe that only God should have the right to end life.Here is a link to a website that lists and explains the top ten pros and cons of euthanasia/physician-assisted suicide: http://euthanasia.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=000126
Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are very complex issues in our society.A lot of individuals may be confused about the difference between the two.The term euthanasia means "good death" in ancient Greek and consists of a physician taking someone's life without causing them pain.This is usually done by giving the patient a lethal injection.Whereas physician-assisted suicide consists of a physician simply giving a patient the right kind and amount of prescription drugs that are needed for painlessly ending their own life.This allows the patient to end their life on their own terms.Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide have mainly been looked at from two different angles.Is it an ethical and/or moral way in which to end a human life.And they have also been looked at from a religious perspective.Many Christians have argued against euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide and some followers of other religions have also taken a stand against euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide also.I am against the legalization of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide here in the U.S. and I would like it to be banned in Oregon (euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide is currently legal in the state of Oregon due to the "Death with Dignitiy Act" some day soon.But there are very good arguments coming from both sides of this complex issue.Some of which I was previously unaware of before our class discussion and my research.Margaret Somerville a Gale Professor of Law and professor in the faculty of medicine at the McGill University Centre for Medicine, Ethics, and Law in Montreal, Canada published an argument against the legalization of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide entitled "The Terminally Ill Should Not Be Allowed to Choose Euthanasia" in which she expresses her thoughts on why euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide should not be legalized.She states that the legalization of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide would change our societies' overall view of death.She states that society as a whole views death as a mystery but with the legalization of euthanasia would instead view death as a problem that simply requires a solution through the use of technology.She also mentions that giving all individuals of age the option to end their own life at anytime is just too big of a responsibility.This is because many individuals who are terminally ill or believe they are dying experience feelings of anxiety and fear because they have no control over what's happening.But with the legalization of euthanasia individuals could avoid their fear by controlling how, when, and where they die.She insists that human beings love the idea of control and euthanasia could possibly become an individual's answer to "how can I control my death".This way of thinking could lead to individuals ending their lives prematurely before all possible treatments of their condition have been carried out because they fear the pain, hardship, and hopelessness they may experience in the near future.Patients need to know that their physicians are they to help them and not inflict death.This perception of doctors would change if euthanasia was legalized and create a serious issue of mistrust between patients, society, and physicians.Training current physicians and medical students to administer lethal injections to patients could also result in these individuals taking human life in a routine manner.Of all the individuals who have requested euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide under Oregon's "Death with Dignity Act" since 2005 forty-six percent of those individuals wished to live after receiving the proper care and pain management.This shows that many individuals who may wish to die are actually just in a very vulnerable state in which they are more than likely also depressed and also feeling pain simultaneously possibly leading to impaired judgment.And how a society treats these individuals exhibits that societie's true morals and ethics.Essentially does a society wish to treat and work with terminally ill and/or depressed individuals or send them the message that they are a burden and should simply end their own life.This article came from the opposing viewpoints database.
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