Again, my rebuttal to this argument is that proponents of euthanasia are not trigger-happy killers. Any legal request for euthanasia would have to be processed for validity by qualified doctors. Any signs of depression would be properly treated and a reasonable "cooling-off period" be provided to the patients to change their minds. Only a bare-minimum number of patients who are suffering without any chance of relief and only those who persistently wish to end their lives to avoid an undignified death would qualify for euthanasia.
It is also argued that advances in modern medicine have made it possible to alleviate all kinds of pain; hence there is no reason why any seriously ill person should suffer unbearable pain. This is a sweeping argument that is again not supported by solid facts. There are many terminal conditions such as full-blown aids and several forms of cancer in which no amounts of medicines can alleviate the nausea and pain. Furthermore, how can someone else decide that the suffering of an individual is "bearable" except the person himself?
Finally, the anti-euthanasia lobby argues that people, who want to end their lives, have the choice of committing suicide rather than asking for euthanasia. This is obviously a cruel line of reasoning, as terminally...
Many of them desire a pain-less dignified end of their lives and legalized euthanasia provides them with such a choice.
Conclusion
While modern technology and advances in medical science have succeeded in alleviating suffering for mankind to a large extent, they have also made it possible for prolonging the agony and suffering of a number of terminally-ill people before ending of their lives. Taking away the right of such people to make a decision about dying with dignity is surely an aberration in any compassionate modern day society. As we saw in this essay, the major arguments against euthanasia are unsustainable. We should all have the right to die with dignity instead of being made to suffer indefinitely at the end of our lives only because of the misplaced moral beliefs of others.
Works Cited
Moreland, J.P. And Norman L. Geisler. The Life and Death Debate: Moral Issues of Our Time. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1990.
Otlowski, Margaret. Voluntary Euthanasia and the Common Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997
Young, Robert. "Voluntary Euthanasia." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2002. April 15, 2005 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/euthanasia-voluntary/
When a doctor provides such information to a terminally ill patient it is called "physician-assisted suicide." Both "assisted suicide" and "physician-assisted suicide" are covered under the broad definition of euthanasia.
J.P. Moreland and Norman S. Geisler. The Life and Death Debate: Moral Issues of Our Time (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1990) 64-65.
Margaret Otlowski. Voluntary Euthanasia and the Common Law. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997) 3.
Robert Young, "Voluntary Euthanasia." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
J.P. Moreland and Norman S. Geisler. The Life and Death Debate: Moral Issues of Our Time (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1990) 78.
Euthanasia
He argues that if society were to allow the terminally ill to commit suicide, then it would be a small step to allow other members of society -- like the handicapped -- to do so as well. This is not a completely trivial argument for two reasons: first, it is the point-of-view held by the majority of the Christian right -- a powerful political force in the Untied States;
As palliative care specialist Dr. Gilbert puts it, "Despite this close involvement with the very patients for whom euthanasia is advocated we do not encounter any persistent rational demand" [Southern Cross Bioethics Institute]. The very point of 'Advanced Directives' is in itself confounding issue as frequently it is the patient's imaginary fears about loss of body functions and pain that drives them to such conclusions. So it is cleanly obvious
It is inevitable that vested interest and even government will not always be pleased with the work some NGOs are performing. However, a number of western causes are totally alien to the culture and society in developing countries and are being propagated by a few NGOs to attract financial assistance from western countries. The role of NGOs in these areas needs to be monitored. The financial requirement of most of
Euthanasia Is Illegal Euthanasia otherwise known as assisted suicide refers to the painless extermination of a patient suffering from terminal illnesses or painful or incurable disease. According to Cavan & Dolan, euthanasia is the practice or act of permitting the death of hopelessly injured or sick individuals in a painless means for the purpose of mercy (Cavan & Dolan 12). The techniques used in euthanasia induce numerous artifacts such as
Taking one's life as a result of the fact that the respective person is expected to suffer inhumane pain for several years until his or her death cannot possibly be compared with murder or suicide. Morality should actually be combined with logics in understanding euthanasia and people need to be more sympathetic and less egocentric regarding individuals who prefer euthanasia as the "safe way out." Bibliography: Allen, Jen & Chavez, Sonia
Euthanasia Debate Euthanasia is the practice of voluntarily ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering (Euthanasia.com/definitions). The act of euthanasia differs from the act of murder in that the person who will die makes the decision to end their life. In the case of murder, the person does not wish to end their life, but anther person intervenes to bring about their death against their wishes. Euthanasia is
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