Arguments For and Against Euthanasia

Euthanasia
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Euthanasia
Euthanasia is a Greek word whose original definition was a good death. It was meant to help both the terminally ill animals and people die instead of suffering. This practice was also performed on some people who were detrimental in the society, to get rid of them. Later, the practice attracted global embrace and therefore slightly shifted in the function. It narrowed down to human beings. According to the Oxford dictionary, euthanasia is defined as the practice or act of helping a terminally ill patient die painlessly. It is also referred to as mercy killing or assisted suicide. Euthanasia has attracted heated debated globally as it touches life. There various people in support and against the practice. This paper shall focus on the pros and cons of euthanasia as argued by the different factions of the debate.
Arguments for Euthanasia
Maintaining dignity of the patient
Many times people have concentrated on the championing for the right to life giving a blind eye and a deaf ear to one’s right to die. It is primarily on one’s coat to decide to terminate his/her life when the future is full of darkness instead of continuing nursing pains. This right to death starts when the right to life ends and some terminal diseases like cancer has a clear signal of death beckoning. It is important for us to understand that euthanasia helps to maintain the dignity of the patient than seeing it soiled yet the destiny is predetermined. There is dignity in better death not bitter death. Euthanasia helps achieve this better death. Why should we wait to see someone’s health condition worsen day after day until he becomes a bag of bones and finally dies yet we are in the position to relieve the person? What do we gain from such a person’s suffering and tears? The truth is that it is very bitter to see a loved one hopelessly suffer to death. In such cases, euthanasia becomes the best option. The patient maintains dignity even in death CITATION Ota10 \l 1033 (Otani, 2010).
It saves life
In addition, euthanasia saves the life. Research conducted in the Netherlands before and after the legalization of euthanasia clearly indicated that after the legalization, the number of patients who went through euthanasia was cut by half. This was because its legalization provided a clear framework which doctors and other medical practitioners were to religiously follow before doing it.The physician operates under the stringent rules in tandem with the stipulated laws. The consequences are so severe so that one’s license is taken away if they misuse the rights to perform euthanasia. Those who oppose euthanasia argue that a doctor can euthanize a person against their will. This is a baseless argument which should be discarded. As a result, much maliciously engineered euthanasia was brought to an end in England. A medical practitioner could not perform the practice due to the influence from the relative who was aiming at satisfying his selfish ambitions CITATION Sto07 \l 1033 (Stolberg, 2007).
It saves medical expenses
Euthanasia saves the medical expenses that the family of the patient would have incurred. It’s important to note that some termina...