Legalization of Euthanasia Critical Analysis
ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY – EUTHANASIA By Troy Jacques Euthanasia is known as the practice of deliberately ending a life which releases an individual from an incurable disease or intolerable suffering. This mercy killing is often referred as an easy and painless death. This can be done from the request of a dying patient or that person’s legal representative. When this is done it is known as Voluntary Euthanasia. Not doing something to prevent someone’s death is known as passive or negative Euthanasia. Active or positive Euthanasia is when someone takes deliberate action to cause a death.
Currently Euthanasia is not allowed by law to be practiced on people. My opinion on Euthanasia is that it should be legalised because the patients get to die in less pain and suffering as possible, the majority of the public believe that Euthanasia should be allowed morally and in a free society an individual should be able to choose their time of death. Patients with such diseases as cancer should be allowed to choose their time of death. This is because cancer is the most common cause of death in Australia, accounting for more than a quarter of all deaths.
There is major pain that is associated with cancer suffers and it is a severe and intractable form of chronic pain. Patients with advanced cancers often experience multiple symptoms like fatigue, weakness, mental haziness, anxiety and nausea. Many of these symptoms can not be eliminated and any may widely affect the function of sense and well being. This can cause a major source of distress to the terminally ill and it can cause extremely unpleasant symptoms, which are undignified in the terminal stage.
This is where Euthanasia would be able to step in and with the request from the patient or their legal representative put a stop to their pain and suffering. I also agree that special guidelines must be put into stop abuse from families that may profit form the death of a person. In Australia the public opinion also supports Euthanasia being legalised. It is around three quarters of the population in Australia that are in favour of doctors giving or practicing Euthanasia if requested by a terminally ill patient who is experiencing unrelievable suffering.
This is based on the responses to the Morgan Poll question: “ If a hopelessly ill patient, experiencing unrelievable suffering with absolutely no chance of recovery, asks for a lethal dose, so as not to wake again, should the doctor be able to give the lethal dose. In 1962 only 47% said “yes”. In 1993 78% and in 1994 and 1995 74% answered with “yes”. Now only 18% say “no” and another 8% are undecided. From this poll the people have stated that in some circumstances Voluntary Euthanasia should be allowed to be practiced.
In a free society a person should be able to choose the time of their death if they are terminally ill. If we are to be truly living in a free society a person should be able to request their doctor to perform Voluntary Euthanasia if they are terminally ill. In not being able to request this means that we are not allowed too freely decide our own fate. I believe that Euthanasia should be legalised because if policed properly it can put a person out of intolerable suffering in which they will die in more pain anyway.
At the present moment under some circumstances the public also agree that a patient should be able to request Voluntary Euthanasia to be practiced on them. It is also that a person should also be able to choose his or her own time of death if we are to be living in a fee society. If a person is allowed to legally refuse treatment that will in a consequence end their life, well why can’t a person just be put out of intolerable suffering and achieve the same fate? Word Count 650
