my english essay
Euthanasia: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Imagine, your grandmother sitting in a hospital bed. She’s hoping for the day that she will get better. She’s holding out hope. Her doctor is attempting to cut off her life support, although her family does not support this idea. This is what euthanasia does to families everyday. Euthanasia is when a doctor ends a terminally ill patient’s life by administering the patient medication, or cutting off said patients life support. I think this should be illegal in all parts of the world because it is immoral, it is unnecessary, and it leaves a blurred line for medical ethics.
To start off, euthanasia should be made illegal for numerous reasons, particularly because it can be considered murder. From an article published in 1992 named “Aid-in-dying: should we decriminalize physician-assisted ******* and physician-committed euthanasia?”, it stated “At common law, the state considered a person who advised a perpetrator to commit a crime and who was present when the crime occurred a principal in the second degree. Consequently, since ******* at common law was equivalent to the crime of homicidal murder, a person who provided ******* assistance (who qualified as principal in the second degree) was also guilty of murder.” (Celocruz, 1992). In common law, to help a criminal commit a crime is also an illegal offense; therefor since ******* is considered homicide, the person who assisted the victim should be charged with homicide. There is no reason for euthanasia not to be considered an act of homicide, they are helping someone take their own life away.
Furthermore, euthanasia should be illegal because it is unnecessary. With our advancements in technology and medicine, there are very simple ways to prevent people from having to resort to this as their last option. An article entitled “Assisted ******* Controversy” “Opponents of aid-in-dying often argue that support for the practice is driven primarily by fear of dying alone and in intractable pain. That support would plunge, opponents say, if home-based hospice care of the terminally ill became more widely available and if medical and nursing schools did a better job of instructing their students in effective pain control.” (Worsnop, 1995). People who oppose euthanasia make the argument that if hospice care was available for everyone and doctors and nurses were trained better, less people would look to euthanasia as the only answer. This evidence shows that euthanasia wouldn’t be needed if there were better options for elderly people living on their own, and better training for doctors. The person wanting to do euthanasia isn’t to blame, it’s said persons environment. If we were to improve our healthcare system and the environments of hospitals, there would be fewer cases of euthanasia.
Consequently, euthanasia should be illegal because it leaves a blurred line for medical ethics. The article “Other People's Lives: Reflections on Medicine, Ethics, and Euthanasia” made an important point on this. They stated, “I have witnessed doctors who want to keep the bed clear by withdrawing treatment or actively assisted in deaths," Dr. Rita Pal told the London Times.” (Fenigsen, 2012). Dr. Rita Pal was doing an interview with the London Times when she told them about how sometimes, doctors will not use their morals and push patients towards the idea of euthanasia. This demonstrates that euthanasia should be illegal because it leaves a lot of room for doctors to manipulate patients that they don’t want to deal with any longer. With euthanasia being legal, there's leeway to disregard morals.
On the contrary, the ancient Greeks believed that euthanasia was the hero’s way out. The article entitled “*******, Euthanasia, And Physician–Assisted *******” stated, “To the Greeks, euthanasia was a rational act by people who deemed their life no longer useful. That these individuals sought the help of others to end their life was considered morally acceptable.” (Alters, 2013). The Greeks believed that euthanasia was morally correct. While in some societies euthanasia was considered correct, it doesn't mean that that is the best way for our society. We can continue to advance and bring medicine to a point where euthanasia should never be considered, it's just an easy cop-out that takes people's lives sooner than necessary.
In conclusion, I think euthanasia should be illegal in all parts of the world because it is immoral, it is unnecessary, and it leaves a blurred line for medical ethics. Euthanasia brings apart many families, and should be eradicated.
Works Cited
Alters, Sandra M. "*******, Euthanasia, and Physician-Assisted *******." Death and Dying: End-of-Life Controversies, 2012 ed., Gale, 2013, pp. 55-76. Information Plus Reference Series. Gale eBooks,
https://link-gale-com.db15.linccweb...012/GVRL?u=lincclin_mcc&sid=GVRL&xid=ccdad574. Accessed 8 Nov. 2019.
CeloCruz, Maria T. "Aid-in-dying: should we decriminalize physician-assisted ******* and physician-committed euthanasia?" American Journal of Law & Medicine, Winter 1992, pp. 369-394. Gale OneFile: High School Edition,
https://link-gale-com.db15.linccweb.org/apps/doc/A13951023/STOM?u=lincclin_mcc&sid=STOM&xid=93cbba4d. Accessed 8 Nov. 2019.
Worsnop, Richard L. "Assisted ******* Controversy." CQ Researcher, 5 May 1995, pp. 393-416, library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1995050500.