Legalizing Active Euthanasia

Improved Essays
The arguments around legalizing active euthanasia are valid from both sides, necessitating a consensus be reached to provide contentment to all parties.
Surrounding the debate around legalized active euthanasia are two conflicting views: those who support its legalization and those who do not. Those who do not support legalized euthanasia claim that it is a "slippery slope," and would inevitably bring about unforeseen consequences ("Euthanasia and assisted suicide - Arguments"). For example, a terminally ill patient may feel pressured to request euthanasia should the patient feel guilty about the familial burden. Others believe that legal euthanasia may discourage research into palliative care and peaceful end-of-life treatments or cures for terminal illnesses. In some situations, doctors could misdiagnose the patient, causing the patient to choose euthanasia despite not having an incurable, life-ending sickness ("Euthanasia
…show more content…
Those who favor the ethical approach may say that if a terminally ill patient is facing "intolerable pain and their quality of life is severely diminished," then it is ethical to allow that person to choose to end their life ("Euthanasia and assisted suicide - Arguments"). When a terminal illness threatens an individual's quality of life, they may feel their life is not worth living, and medical professionals should approach patients with compassion and respect should they wish to instead die with dignity rather than at the mercy of their illness (Chand). Many believe that the "only humane choice is to allow individuals who are suffering to choose to end their suffering" (Chand). The significant common ground between these two dramatic stances is that euthanasia will always be a controversial subject, so great care must be taken to alleviate any uncertainties with consistent and comprehensive

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Alternatives to euthanasia can prevent putting too much power in other hands, and eliminate consequences in the future; therefore, euthanasia should not be legalized. Through the legalization of Euthanasia we will eventually enter a “slippery slope”. One of the biggest concerns with euthanasia is when to cross the line at who can receive euthanasia. As euthanasia progresses more laws and rules are being set to allow more people to receive euthanasia.…

    • 1580 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The debate rises on whether or not assisted suicide is ethical, legal and the best available option for those enduring misery and agony. According to Worsnop the debate that surrounds assisted suicide is divided equally between supporters and opponents of euthanasia. The compassionate…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What if someone choose if you got to live or die? What if the doctors are not doing their job and just choose to end people’s life who had no chance in getting better. This is called euthanasia. The term euthanasia comes from the Greek words that means literally, a good or dignified death. Euthanasia is a conscious act that leads to the supposedly quick and painless death of a terminally ill person, with the intention of stopping their suffering.…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A debatable and controversial topic of today's society would be if Euthanasia or physician- assisted suicide should be legal or illegal. This paper will discuss what is Euthanasia? Why doctors are against it, and where it’s legal or illegal? Euthanasia or PAS is an option for terminally ill people that have the option to end their suffering and pain. The process is quick and dignified using injections of potassium chloride for a peaceful death.…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If a patient has the right to choose how they live their life then the patient has the right to choose how they will die. In the article “Governor Signs End-of-Life Act” governor Jerry Brown states that if he were to be dying of a prolonged and excruciating pain he would feel more comfortable having the option of being prescribed a lethal drug because he will have a choice how he die. Furthermore in the article “Physician-Assisted Suicide Debate: Are We Using the Right Language” doctors argued that the patient has a right to choose early death because in some cases the patient can be suffering. For example Brittany Maynard, who has a terminal illness was passionate to choose when she died. Opponents argue that having assisted suicide takes away from the doctors duties as a healer.…

    • 1308 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The idea of life and death has always been a concept that many people try to avoid, but what happens when a loved one becomes too ill to live? This question has given rise to the idea of euthanasia and Physician-assisted suicide, which although may seem similar, have very different properties. Although physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia both support the belief that one has the right to choose their own fate, the constant backlash in society has limited its practice resulting in the disappearance of a method which, although unorthodox, offer a relief to people suffering from deadly diseases. Euthanasia is “the intentional killing by an act of . . . a dependent human being for his or her benefit” (MCCL.org) and involves two different methods.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Should Euthanasia be banned? The topic of euthanasia arouses much ethical debate and controversy. Euthanasia is the termination of a person’s life to end their suffering, usually through the injection of drugs. Debates about the ethics of euthanasia and medical assisted suicide date from ancient Greece and Rome.…

    • 2032 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Opponents say that difficult decisions are supposed to be made, by one’s self, family, and a physician, about a life that is at an end and should be allowed to be let go. It is not for the government to decide when the plug should be pulled or for a death pill to be administered. While opponents argue medically assisted suicide is unethical and will lead society down a slippery slope, proponents argue that it is ethically permissible, and is “the ultimate civil right” and not to let mentally competent, terminally ill patients who want to end their pain and suffering in a peaceful manner, is disrespectful to their right to personal autonomy. But the more modern day medicine and technology continue to pull people from the brink of death, more and more people will be asking for the right to end their lives, because extending the length of life, allows time for more people to become terminally ill and be in pain. Virtually all people want their loved ones to remember them as they once were, not what they could become in the years following the diagnosis of a terminally illness.…

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Assisted Suicide

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Should Not Be Legal,” by Marker Rita and Kathi Hamlon, briefly describes answered questions and doubts to give one a different viewpoint on this topic. This essay explains how euthanasia and assisted suicide are not a private acts. The article argues that Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide is not about having a right to die, but instead the right to kill. In this article, the author persuades their intended audience using the rhetorical device the fallacy of slippery slope and Inductive reasoning.…

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Every day healthcare workers must make decisions when providing care to their patients. Some of those decisions are clear cut such as providing medicine that will stop nausea or medications that will relieve the pain of a heart attack. Other decisions in healthcare blur the lines of bioethics. One such area is end of life care and whether to assist a terminally ill patient to die. The practice of assisted suicide has been given names such as "death with dignity" or "right to die" to make it more palatable to individuals.…

    • 1856 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If we legalize physician assisted suicide, will our society be willing to treat and aid patients who attempt to commit suicide due to unattended mental health issues? Or will suicide become a norm for future generations? Are we ready to trust our physicians with not only our life but also our death? Although many may argue that physician assisted suicide should be allowed in terminal cases, the possible risks and dangers that come with it are quite alarming. While people should be allowed to end their pain and suffering, we must understand we don’t have the right method to conduct or legalize physician assisted suicides without potentially harming other people along the way.…

    • 1333 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Assisted Suicide In recent discussions of ending the suffering of terminally ill people, a controversial issue has been assisted suicide. On the one hand, some argue that it is a path to euthanizing. On the other hand, however, others argue that letting terminally ill people have the choice to end the incurable suffering is compassionate.…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    However, on the other hand, if physician assisted suicide is legalized, then it can easily be abused; people can chose to die even if there are ways to treat whatever illness or problem they have. There is also the views and opinions of physicians, as they are the ones performing the procedures. Some physicians are completely comfortable performing the procedure if it is the best option for the patient and is a hundred percent voluntary. Other doctors are morally against it and do not wish to assist the patient’s suicide. Whether or not physician assisted suicide…

    • 1551 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Essay On Assisted Suicide

    • 3895 Words
    • 16 Pages

    The controversial topic of assisted suicide is often considered when dealing with an inoperable or incurable cancer, such as brain or lung cancer. The suffering of these cancers is excruciating and the waiting for death to take away their pain feels like an eternity. Assisted suicide provides an option to illnesses where death is the inevitable outcome. For example, lung cancer eats away at a person’s lungs making it extremely hard or nearly impossible to breath, making each breath feel like it is their hardest. Assisted suicide would end the painful breaths and agonizing last days of their life and end their life peacefully and painlessly.…

    • 3895 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the practice of autonomy, people take accountability for their own lives, and part of that accountability is choosing the manner of their death and deciding whether their life has enough quality to live. Many who choose physician aid in dying (PAD) choose to die with dignity and happiness while surrounded with close friends or family. Another argument for active euthanasia is beneficence. Beneficence is the presumption if someone is in the position or has the ability to relieve the suffering of a terminally ill patient, then that person has the right to do so. PAD should not be considered wrong if the patient so chooses if it is the only foreseeable solution to relieving the prolonging suffering of a patient.…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays