Friday 22 February 2013

Euthanasia - Should it be legalised ?

++COPYRIGHT STEPHANIE NYSSA GOMEZ++

                        Euthanasia means the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefits (Schindler 2011). If death is not intended, then it’s not called euthanasia. Euthanasia is usually done to end or escape pain and suffering of the patient’s life. Another word for euthanasia is Mercy Killing. There are many types of euthanasia which are voluntary euthanasia, non-voluntary euthanasia, involuntary euthanasia, assisted suicide, physician assisted suicide, euthanasia by action and euthanasia by omission. 
                        Euthanasia should be legalised. This is because it’s the person own request so we should accept that as they have been suffering for a long time. We don’t know what they are going through and what their feelings are while going through the suffering. We should put our self in other’s shoe. Then we can know how the patients who suffer feel. The patients who request for euthanasia usually because they cannot take the pain any longer, they don’t want to burden others or they have lost hope in continuing his or her life. If we force them to continue to live, what kind of life would that be for them. An unwanted life full of sufferings and sadness. It doesn’t mean that everyone should be supporting suicide here. Euthanasia and suicide is completely different.  Suicide as defined by Desai (2008) means an act or instance of intentionally killing oneself. Mostly, it’s because of depression. Euthanasia or mercy killing is committed on the basis of medical reasons, where the death of a terminally ill person is brought about by another person, who believes that such person’s existence is so bad that he or she would be better off dead; also when his actions are based on the conviction that unless he intervenes and ends the ill person’s life, it shall become so bad that he or she would be better off dead.
                        Secondly, euthanasia should be legalised because it’s the right of a competent, terminally ill person to avoid excruciating pain and embrace a timely and dignified death to avoid unendurable pain (Answers Corporation 2011). If there is already no other way or medication to cure the person or if the person has been in the same state for a long time, what should they be waiting for? All religions believe in God and miracles. Yes, and people also believe that maybe that patient would one day get healthy and walk around like a normal person. For the person who is waiting for the patient to get well they don’t feel anything. All they feel is hope and faith. What about that poor, sickly patient who is lying on the bed for a long time not being able to do anything? Wouldn’t they feel useless not being able to conquer their own body? They have to be dependent on other people for a long time and in some cases maybe for the rest of their life. For example, Dianne Pretty was suffering from motor neurone disease and wanted to die. She and her husband petitioned the courts to give immunity from prosecution to her husband if he were to help her to kill herself. He did not get immunity, the disease took its inevitable course, and Dianne Pretty died in hospital under exactly the sort of conditions she had wanted to avoid (rsrevision 2011).
                        Thirdly, euthanasia should only be done if the person requests it. It shouldn’t be done without the person’s permission. The family members, relatives, friends, physician or doctor neither of them have the rights to take the patient’s life without his or her permission. It’s the patient who is going through the sufferings so they are the one who know whether they can still go through all the pain and hope for the best or the pain is too unbearable that they just want to die. Priority should be given to the patients.
                        In conclusion, euthanasia should be legalised but there should be very strict guidelines before a euthanasia request could be filed. There is no point of waiting for the person to die or heal if there is nothing the doctors can do about it. They patient should be given euthanasia if they really request it and their condition is really bad. Euthanasia should be done to make the person’s excruciating pain end immediately.

++COPYRIGHT STEPHANIE NYSSA GOMEZ++

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