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Euthanasia Essay, Research Paper

Euthanasia

A thesis statement for those who support the concept of euthanasia could be: Euthanasia, also mercy killing, is the practice of ending a life so as to release an individual from an incurable disease or intolerable suffering. Euthanasia is a merciful means to an end of long-term suffering. Euthanasia is a relatively new dilemma for the United States and has gained a bad reputation from negative media hype surrounding assisted suicides. Euthanasia has a purpose and should be evaluated as humanely filling a void created by our sometimes inhumane modern society. In our society, suicide is always traumatic for families and friends. If there is no alternative to relieve the suffering of terminal patients, then the more humane option to suicide is euthanasia.

To those who would oppose euthanasia might consider this as an appropriate antithesis statement: Euthanasia is nothing less than cold-blooded killing. Euthanasia cheapens life, even more so than the very divisive issue of abortion. Euthanasia is morally and ethically wrong and should be banned in the United States. Modern medicine has evolved by leaps and bounds recently and euthanasia resets these medical and technological advances back by years and reduces today?s medical doctors to administrators of death.

Euthanasia comes from the Greek word ?Thanatos? meaning death and the prefix ?eu? meaning easy or good. (Russell, 1977, p. 8) To those who support euthanasia it might be defined as follows: The term euthanasia is used generally to refer to an easy or painless death. Voluntary euthanasia involves a request by the dying patient or that person?s legal representatives. Passive or negative euthanasia involves not doing something to prevent death, that is, allowing someone to die; active or positive euthanasia involves taking deliberate action to cause a death.

Euthanasia is often mistaken or associated with assisted suicide, a distant cousin of euthanasia, in which a person wishes to commit suicide but feels unable to perform the act alone because of a physical disability or lack of knowledge about the most effective means. An individual who assists a suicide victim in accomplishing that goal may or may not be held responsible for the death, depending on local laws. There is a distinct difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide. This paper targets euthanasia; pro and cons, not assisted suicide.

The arguments in favor of euthanasia are many. Without a doubt, modern dying has become fearsome. Doctors now possess the technologies and the skills to forestall natural death almost indefinitely. All too often, the terminally ill suffer needless pain and are kept alive without real hope, as families hold a harrowing deathwatch.

In ancient Greece and Rome it was permissible in some situations to help others die. For example, the Greek writer Plutarch mentioned that in Sparta, infanticide was practiced on children who lacked ?health and vigor?. Both Socrates and Plato sanctioned forms of euthanasia in certain cases. Voluntary euthanasia for the elderly was an approved custom in several ancient societies.

Euthanasia has been accepted both legally and morally in various forms in many societies. ?There is no more profoundly personal decision, nor one which is closer to the heart of personal liberty, than the choice which a terminally ill person makes to end his or her suffering? U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein wrote. (Rothstein, 1994, p. 615). Organizations supporting the legalization of voluntary euthanasia were established in Great Briton in 1935 and in the United States in 1938. They have gained some public support, but so far they have been unable to achieve their goal in either nation. In the last few decades, Western laws against passive and voluntary euthanasia have slowly been eased.

The proeuthanasia, or ?right to die?, movement has received considerable encouragement by the passage of laws in 40 states by 1990, which allow legally competent individuals to make ?living wills.? These wills empower and instruct doctors to withhold life-support systems if the individuals become terminally ill.

Euthanasia continues to occur in all societies, including those in which it is held to be immoral and illegal. A medically assisted end to a meaningless and worthless ?void? of an existence is both accepted and condoned by the medical profession. In a Colorado survey, 60% of physicians stated that they have cared for patients for whom they believe active euthanasia would be justifiable, and 59% expressed a willingness to use lethal drugs in such cases if legal. In a study of 676 San Francisco physicians, 70% believed that patients with an incurable terminal illness should have the option of active euthanasia, and 45% would carry out such a request, if legal (35% were opposed). Nearly 90% of physicians in another study agreed that ?sometimes it is appropriate to give pain medication to relieve suffering, even if it may hasten a patient?s death.

On the other hand there are some who could make an argument against euthanasia. With the rise of organized religion, euthanasia became morally and ethically abhorrent. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all hold human life sacred and condemn euthanasia in any form. The American Medical Association continues to condemn assisted suicide.

Western laws have generally considered the act of helping someone to die a form of homicide subject to legal sanctions. Even a passive withholding of help to prevent death has frequently been severely punished. The Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association recommends that the American Medical Association reject euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide as being incompatible with the nature and purposes of the healing arts. (T1994, p. 81-90)

?When does the right to die become an obligation to die?? asks

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