The Right to Die
Euthanasia has no special legal position in the UK. Instances described as euthanasia are treated as murder or manslaughter. However, the Suicide Act 1961 makes a specific offence of 'criminal liability for complicity in another's suicide', while declaring suicide itself to be legal.
I recent watched the wonderful, Louis Theroux’s new documents called “Altered states”. He has been investigating in America and as usual choosing topic of interest and taboo. The latest episode on the right to die opened a big old can of worms in my head and I was left wondering, should people have the right to die?
Louis investigated voluntary euthanasia, where a person makes a conscious decision to die and asks for help to do so. I was unaware that in some states in America, people can be prescribed a lethal dose of medicine if they have an illness and have been given 6 months or less to live. It has its restrictions; the person must administer the medicine themselves and be declared of sound mind. This is in a way a controlled suicide of the person; they can go out the way they want, in a fast and painless way.
Supporters of euthanasia believe that allowing people to ‘die with dignity’ is kinder than forcing them to continue their lives with suffering. With the advances in medicine we can keep people alive longer but at what cost. They become bed bound, a former shadow of themselves, sad and feeling a burden for all the loved ones around them. The fight can be a long one and near the end the person could have no quality of life for a long time before actually passing.
Some believe that every patient has a right to choose when to die. As humans we have the abilities to choose what is right for us. If we are strong, athletic or smart and full of knowledge shouldn’t we be able to choose to go before that is lost?
Proponents believe that euthanasia can be safely regulated by government legislation. It has been shown in the states in American to have worked very well and the numbers are not as high as you would think. Many choose this so that they know they have the option if they want it and may not actually choose to end their life.
The pro-euthanasia and assisted suicide supporters focus on the importance of having a choice. Shouldn’t patients have the right to end their lives?
I believe the debate is not about having the right to die; it is simply a matter of helping another person kill themselves. Unlike suicide, assisted suicide is something the person is choosing to do alone. Nobody chooses assisted suicide if they are alone, it’s simply just suicide if the person takes there life alone without anyone else knowing or being involved. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are matters that involve everyone because they involve so many other people, that’s when problems will occur. Friends, family, doctors, hospital staff and the public are hugely affected by the wider consequences of the act.
In the UK we have free healthcare, this relieves a lot of financial burden for elderly or persons with terminal illness. This allows them to have treatment and care right till the end and have a better quality of life which most countries like America do not. Many of the Americans in the program talked about not being able to afford the care they would need if they became more ill than they were. They would have to sell their homes and then live a life that they did not wish too, what for? To have a few more months of painful living.
As humans, should respect other people’s wishes. If someone feels their life is not worth living anymore and has thought carefully about ending their life then we should respect this decision. People need to make decisions in their life according to their own conceptions, beliefs and feelings about where they want their lives to go. People take responsibility for their own lives and since dying is a part of life, the choices people make about dying (ending their life) should be part of these responsibilities. Most people are concerned at some time in their life about how their life will end. If someone plans the way they will die and they are comfortable with it then they should be allowed to do so.
People should be able to end their lives surrounded by loved ones. As I said , many people worry about how their lives will end. If someone feels their life is not worth living anymore then they should be able to end their lives with their loved ones around. If a person had a terminal illness and could die at any time there may not be anyone around to say goodbye to, it would be a terribly lonely death. Surely if someone had planned their death with loved ones around to say final words and goodbye it would be a much better way to die. If the ‘loved ones’ did not have a problem with the person doing so then who else could it affect and make such a big issue about.
The sad truth is that it is cheaper. What this means is that the cost of keeping a person alive against their will would be more expensive than letting them die. The financial cost of long term medical and nursing care is very expensive for the NHS. Assisted suidice would remove the need to spend money on this type of care and free up money that can be spent elsewhere. This is a rather heartless argument, but when you are arguing such a strong case these arguments can be needed.
But we should preserve life. This argument is mainly to do with my religious beliefs. Many Christians believe that God should be the only one to take life away, since he gave life to us. It is felt that Euthanasia would remove the act of taking a life from God to humanity. In Christian religion any form of suicide is considered immoral. The fifth commandment states that ‘thou shall not kill’ this sums up the Christian argument quite well.
What if it is legalised? Would many people will make the wrong decision. I fear that family members or doctors may persuade the person in question to take their life against their will. Some people believe there is nothing logically inconsistent in supporting involuntary euthanasia but rejecting non-voluntary euthanasia is morally inappropriate. For example if someone is in a persistent vegetative state and their life is considered not worth living, but they have never expressed the wish die, then non-voluntary Euthanasia should not be enacted.
Both sides have very strong arguments, and the talk about whether assisted suicide should be allowed goes on. I believe that if a terminally ill patient’s quality of life is limited, then maybe the patient should have the right to choose but checks should be made that this is 100% what that person wants, and permission is given within the right persons involved. I also agree though that with many arguments against this topic, it’s such a dangerous slope that can run away with us. I agree with many of the facts from both sides of the argument, I can’t agree on with side I fall on.
Assisted suicide remains a massive topic among many: some people believe that it is the only humane way to end suffering. Christians believe that humans have to undergo suffering because it’s part of god’s plan. Its remains a debatable subject with many views that all have some valid points. One last thing to think about is – Are we preserving life or postponing death?
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