Euthanasia Should Not Be Legalized

Imagine being an athlete who is a national champion in swimming, snowboarding, and also surfing. Each are difficult sports requiring extensive control of the body. One day, you are crossing the street and a motorcyclist heading your way doesn’t notice you, leading to a disastrous accident. The next thing you know, you wake up with no control over your arms or legs. A care taker has to do everything for you, since your autonomy is now gone. Months pass and you realize that you cannot live this way anymore. Requesting for physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia has become a last resort. The process is made to ensure that the patient is making the right decision, as well as the advocating doctors. There are many reasons why people who are terminally ill choose this route. A few include an end to suffering, death with dignity, finances, and also it being the patient’s choice. Legalizing physician-assisted suicide in more states will definitely be …show more content…
The dimensions of the physician dilemma include the legal, professional, personal, and clinical. According to Levy, Azar, Huberfeld, Siegal & Strous, “The legal domain refers to the relationship between the act and potential criminality. In most European countries current legislation regards euthanasia as illegal acts mandating punitive measures” (2012, p.403). The professional dimension includes whether euthanasia should be included as a medical procedure, and under what circumstances. Euthanasia is not a common practice, so the idea of including it in medical practices is still up in the air. The personal aspect includes the involvement of the physician role in the process. This can include their involvement in the decision making process, or just the involvement in carrying out the process depending on the patient’s choice. These topics regard the ethical values place on life, death, and patient autonomy (Levy et al.,