Should Euthanasia be Allowed?
Euthanasia, sometimes called mercy killing is defined as a painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable disease. It is a highly controversial topic for many years now. Some believe it to be a mercy and some believe it to be nothing short of murder. I personally believe with the later. I believe it is wrong for anyone to assist another in taking their own lives. There is a huge ramification to assisting another in killing themselves, there is a matter of psychological effects to those who have witnessed and participated in it , there is a matter of public views of death and illness and while some would argue the importance of personal choice , I do not believe that is a good enough reason to assist another in suicide.
Euthanasia has a deep and troubling psychological effect on those who have witnessed it and on those who helped with it. Can you imagine having to have agreed to kill someone you have loved and lived with for many years or if you were a doctor who have spent his life healing the sick only to have killed someone on purpose. It can be a shocking experience to do something like that. Pieter Admiral, a leader of Holland ‘s euthanasia movement and a Doctor said this regarding euthanasia “You will never get accustomed to killing somebody. We are not trained to kill. With euthanasia, your nightmare comes true.” (Psychological Effects of Physician Assisted Suicide).
Euthanasia can also have an effect on society’s view of death and illness. Imagine if one day euthanasia becomes a common practice, that anyone who has a severe illness can then choose or have others choose for him or her to have a doctor assist in their death. Imagine this to be perfectly normal. What this will do is anyone who is a bother to his family, like an elderly who is slowly dying and no one can be bothered to take care of him. They can simply have him hospitalized then coerce him to get himself euthanized because he is too old to be useful to anyone. Journalist and author George Pitcher have this to say about euthanasia effects on society’s perspective of death “Euthanasia has a profound adverse effect on the social fabric of our society, on our attitudes towards each other’s deaths and illnesses, on our attitudes towards those who are ill and have disabilities.” (Against Euthanasia). To allow euthanasia to be the new norm is to inevitably put pressure on the dying and sick to take their own life in fear of being a burden to their family.
People who are pro-euthanasia would argue that we should respect people’s choices and their right to die. They would also argue that in aiding them in self assisted suicide we are showing them compassion and love since we are supporting them in their decision. I however argue that true compassion is showing them that their life has meaning and value. Showing them that you are willing to stay with them until the end and not taking the easy way out for the both of you is to truly show the dying and sick compassion. That to me is showing people true respect and compassion.
In the end it is a choice between fighting for life or fighting for death. The way I see it the choice is obvious. They say nothing good in life every comes easy. Fighting for life is hard, while fighting to die is easy. So, you can make your own decision on which way is the right way and which is the wrong. If by now you still don’t understand what im trying to say then I will make it easy for you. Please do not kill yourself.
Works cited
- Emotional and Psychological Effects of Physician Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia On Participating Physicians https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/20508549.2006.11877782?needAccess=true&
- Arguments For and Against Euthanasia https://www.care.org.uk/our-causes/sanctity-life/arguments-for-and-against-euthanasia
- Emotional and psychological effects of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia on participating physicians. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16676767
- Determinants of Public Attitudes towards Euthanasia in Adults and Physician-Assisted Death in Neonates in Austria: A National Survey https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4408035/