Tony Nicklinson's Argument Against Euthanasia

For the past six years you have been unable to walk, unable to communicate with family, unable to carry out simple everyday tasks on your own. You live with a constantly growing sense of indignity, misery and helplessness. This was the life of Tony Nicklinson who, after being diagnosed with “locked-in syndrome” was denied the ability to pass away peacefully through euthanasia and was forced, as he described it, to remain in a “living nightmare”. Due to his condition, tony was left in a permanent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. He was denied peaceful passing by the high court judges on two occasions, once in 2010 and then again 2 years later. As a last resort Tony starved himself to death, and after a week without food, he died of …show more content…
We live in the year 2015, and still it is illegal to grant an individual in need the right to a peaceful departure. Euthanasia offers patients the option to leave their life happier than they would have been otherwise. Furthermore, it is a decision that a patient should be given the right to in times of intense suffering, considering that it is their own life. Finally, the absence of euthanasia has denied so many the end that they have desired through years of …show more content…
However, if an individual has a terminal illness or is mortally wounded, if they are unconscious and have no chance of awakening, if they have severe cognitive impairments that will hinder them considerably for the rest of their lives, is death still seen as the same depriving force? In unfortunate cases where individuals have no hope for the same fulfilling future as which we are granted, death is seen as the only future. So what gives us the right to deny these people a preferable, painless way to end their lives? According to the Australian Bureau of statistics there are, on average, 2415 suicides a year in our country, 10% of which are linked to terminal or chronic illnesses. These suicides are carried out through horrific methods such as drowning, hanging, suffocation and the most common, gun shot. When people are living in these conditions, we should strive to make their end as peaceful and easy as we can, rather than enhancing and prolong their misery any longer than it has to be. We have a duty to ensure that our loved ones are not suffering when it is their time to go. The legalisation of euthanasia would give us the opportunity to provide those in need to end their lives free from both physical and emotional