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Euthanasia: Suicide or the right to die?
I’m sure the majority of you know what Euthanasia is, or you have at least heard about it, but when the question arises of whether it is killing someone, or their right to die, which side are you on? Today, I am here to open your eyes to see the real affects of euthanasia, on the suffering patient, and also on the people close to them.
Euthanasia is the practice of painlessly putting people to death who have incurable, painful, or distressing diseases or handicaps. It come from the Greek words for 'good' and 'death', and is also known as “mercy killing”. Voluntary euthanasia may occur when incurably ill persons ask their physician, friend or relative, to put them to death. The patients or their relatives may ask a doctor to withhold treatment and let them die. Many critics of the medical profession contend that too often doctors play god on operating tables and in recovery rooms. They argue that no doctor should be allowed to decide who lives and who dies. It isn’t meant to put an end to useless suffering; it’s a way of putting an end to useless people.
Looking at Euthanasia as “mercy killing” isn’t a new concept; however it wasn’t long ago that mercy had nothing to do with euthanasia in the minds of many people who basically saw it as a way of “improving the human race” by eliminating its weakest elements. The theory, called social Darwinism, states “it is the duty of the strong not to help the weak, but to destroy them”.
Setting aside the concept of “Easy death” for a moment, the problem with Euthanasia is this—Where do you draw the line? Once you have convinced yourself that it is okay to end the life of a person suffering from a debilitating and degenerative illness, it becomes much easier to accept euthanasia as simply a “solution” to the worlds problems of overcrowding, hunger, and poverty.
There are 4 main types of Euthanasia. Passive (letting nature take its course....