Reasons to why Euthanasia Should be Legalized

What would you do if your mom had been in a terrible car accident? She has been in a coma for months and you finally realize that she will not wake up. The doctors inform you that you now have a choice to make: keep her on life support, or let her pass on. What would you choose? In this situation Euthanasia would be a likely option, due to the severity of the case. Euthanasia should be legalized because you are allowing someone that is living with pain to finally achieve some tranquility, it is saving the family from prolonged emotional hardship, and giving a struggling patient some type of quality of life.

Euthanasia is the painless killing of a patient that is suffering from an incurable, irremediable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. There are two types of Euthanasia, which include voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary Euthanasia is conducted with consent and Involuntary Euthanasia is carried on without consent.

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With Involuntary Euthanasia, the decision to induce pain-free killing is made by another person, due to the fact that the patient is incapable of doing so by themselves (Nordqvist). Euthanasia is only legal in one state, though Physician-Assisted suicide is legal in California, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. Nevertheless, it has very strict requirements. Physician-Assisted suicide is similar to Euthanasia in that it is the putting to rest of a patient that is struggling to live, whether it be physically or emotionally.

There are always two sides to any argument, so there are people who do not agree that Euthanasia should be allowed to be practiced.

They disagree for a plethora of reasons, but the main reason is religious contradictions. Their belief is that you are taking power away from God and are not allowing Him to do His job. Those who disagree will say that you are going against God’s will by killing , and that doctors are going against God's will if they assist you. How much power is too much for doctors? This is a very controversial question in this debate. There are many people who believe that we are giving a great deal of power to medical professionals when we allow them to give medications to end the lives of others. The opposing side believes that it is wrong for doctors to have the ability to give you pharmaceuticals that end your life. The last reason that those who think Euthanasia is immoral, is that they believe that there is the possibility of recovery. The individuals who usually partake in euthanization are those who are in, or have a family member in, a coma or those that have a terminal cancer, in which the possibility for recovery is highly unlikely.

There are some people who do not know what the purpose of Euthanasia is. The point of Euthanasia is to assist an individual that is suffering from a horrible disease to a place of tranquility. People turn to Euthanasia for several reasons such as feeling incapacitated, exhausted, and uncomfortable with their current way of life. If the individual experiences an abundant loss of function, pain, insufferable side effects of medications, a loss of sense of self, fears about their future, quality of life, and dying, the person may turn to Euthanasia to relieve himself of those ailments and issues (Starks). The individuals that choose to euthanize themselves are in extreme pain and they can not go through one day without excruciating emotional and physical suffering. Those people want to be able to live painlessly and peacefully. They do not want to, and should not have to, handle the pain that they are experiencing anymore.

The emotional hardship of seeing a family member suffering and dying is incredibly stressful for a family. They just want to see their loved one or significant other without pain and hurting. It is especially hard for family members to make a decision about a loved one that is younger than them and it is even harder when the tragedy was unexpected. Due to the fact that “the gravely ill are emotionally vulnerable,” they are easily influenced (Pabst-Battin). “Depressed family members may unconsciously,” without being aware, provoke their family member to have “'suicidal' thoughts” (Pabst-Battin). Everyone handles emotional stress in a different way, but many people will be deeply affected by a loved one suffering and there are ways to ease their suffering with things like Euthanasia. Euthanasia will help the pain and hardship of seeing a loved one suffer for a long drawn out painful death.

When people are facing adversity or are not conscious, they do not have a good quality of life. Quality of life is a person’s happiness, level of comfort, and their health status. So if someone is in a coma or has a debilitating malady, they have a very low quality of life. Many people that consider Euthanasia as an option to ending their pain are deteriorating and getting very close to dying. Your loved one having a good quality of life is very important. It is not fair to keep them alive when they do not have a good lifestyle and are struggling through their days. “A doctor who is unconcerned” about a patient and their standards of living is “inhumane” and the “real enemy” is “inhumanity,” not death (Barnard). A doctor should do the best things for their patients, and that means they should not always try to help someone stay alive when they are clearly suffering. The best interest should be for the patients to have an excellent quality of life, not a poor one.

Euthanasia is the “deliberate, but painless, ending” of someone’s life (Treatments). Euthanasia can assist someone that has a terminal illness or someone who is in an endless irreversible coma to end their pain and suffering. Euthanasia is also able to help the family of a dying loved one by lessening the burden and emotional stress of seeing a loved one incapable of caring for themselves. Euthanasia has the ability to help an individual that is dying to be in peace. When someone is dying, they lose their ability to do things for themselves and they do not have a good quality of life. Euthanasia provides a way for those that are dealing with a lot of physical and emotional strife to finally rest easy and know that both they and their loved ones will be okay.