Pro Choices: The Pros And Cons Of Euthanasia

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Why should people with terminal illness be forced to go through the pain and suffering of death, when there’s a peaceful, more humane way to die? Euthanasia is the act of ending the life of a person who is suffering from a terminal illness. According to At Issues, Euthanasia, also called mercy killing, differs from assisted suicide in that with euthanasia the doctor can provide and administrate the drugs that are used to end a life, whereas with assisted suicide the doctor may only provide the drugs and not administrate them(At Issues). This paper will examine the pro, con, and my viewpoint on Euthanasia. To begin with, the pro viewpoint is that euthanasia should be an option so the terminally ill do not have to endure needless pain and suffering. …show more content…
Quebec joins the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg as the few in the world to legalize physicians to administrate lethal injections to patients. A few states in the U.S. allow assisted suicide, in which patients are prescribed medicine to end their own lives.Next, Veronique Hivon, the PQ MNA who pushed for the euthanasia bill to be retried, said that Quebec’s bill, modeled closely to Belgium’s, has greater safeguards because it specifies a patient must be an adult “at the end of life” to be eligible for euthanasia(Graeme Hamilton). Whereas in Belgium, people with chronic depression can receive euthanasia, and minors as young as 12 can receive it also. In particular, patients must be in an advanced state of irreversible decline of health, suffer from a serious, incurable illness, and experience constant and unbearable pain. The patient’s request for euthanasia must be in writing, the doctor must have a second opinion and no doctor is obligated to perform euthanasia to a patient. Many requirements are being placed so that only those who truly need it can have access. These are the pro viewpoints of …show more content…
A child psychologist or psychiatrist would have to examine the child to make sure he or she is capable of making the decision, reports Laura Smith-Spark and Diana Magnay, Journalist from CNN (Smith-Spark, Magnay). If the child is fully understanding of what euthanasia is and what it means, then a child should be able to request it. There are certain circumstances, such as Ella-Louise who was 10 months old when she died. Ella suffered from Krabbe disease, which causes damage to the nervous system. Linda van Roy, Ella-Louise’s mother, wished euthanasia was an option that would have ended her daughters short life come more quickly(Smith-Spark, Magnay). Moreover, the Netherlands allow children over the age of twelve, with parental consent, to request euthanasia. Since the law was passed in 2002, only 5 children have chosen euthanasia (Smith-Spark, Magnay). Children are slowly having a choice when it comes to their life and euthanasia. Gerald van Berlaer of Brussels’ Free University states that, “Doctors do terminate the lives of children as well as adults, but today it is done, let’s say, a “gray zone” or in the dark, because it’s illegal. And this means that there’s a lot of room to do things the wrong way” (Smith-Spark, Magnay). If euthanasia was legal, then more studies could be conducted to ensure that the procedure was done safely. Finally, this is my viewpoint on

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