Argumentative Essay: The Issue Of Euthanasia

The topic of euthanasia has been largely debated over time in the United States. Americans have very strong and opposing views when it comes to their opinions on this subject. Supporters state that permitting euthanasia gives suffering patients an option to end their suffering, brings financial relief to the families of the patients, and brings relief and closure to terminally ill patients’ families. Opponents argue that permitting euthanasia would enable mentally unstable people to end their own lives, they also state that euthanasia negatively influences and diminishes other lives, and it is religiously wrong and immoral. This issue will take time to resolve due to the inability of Americans to reach a compromise. Euthanasia, also called mercy killing, is the act or practice of ending the life of a person suffering from a terminal illness or incurable condition. Euthanasia has been both morally and legally accepted in various forms in many societies. Long ago, in ancient Greek and Rome it was allowed in certain situations to help others to die. Many philosophers, like Socrates and Plato, both sanctioned forms of euthanasia in certain cases. However, in most modern …show more content…
Jerry Brown on the issue of euthanasia. Opponents argue that euthanasia negatively influences and diminishes the lives of others. Americans fear that euthanasia would become to be seen as an easy way out of life, not for terminally ill patients, but to everyone else who believe they can’t go on, (“Laws permitting physician assisted suicide send a message that, under especially difficult circumstances, some lives are not worth living, and that suicide is a reasonable or appropriate way out. This is a message that will be heard not just by those with a terminally illness but also by anyone tempted to think he or she cannot go on any longer.”)