In the past few decades, the debates in regard to Euthanasia have increased abruptly. Euthanasia is the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease and is intended to relieve the patients pain and suffering (Hendin).  Euthanasia literally means “good death,” but it is almost the exact opposite. The process of Euthanasia interferes with the patients’ natural process of death. Anyhow, the opposing side debates that if Euthanasia was legalized in more countries, it would end terminally ill patients that are suffering in a quick and painless manner.  Although Euthanasia relieves pain and ends suffering, legalizing Euthanasia can lead to more serious matters, such as suicide contagion. 

There are multiple different kinds of Euthanasia, and each varies a little. If a patient is severely ill, and they know that they do not want to live any longer, they’ll talk and request for the process of Euthanasia to be performed, which is known as Voluntary Euthanasia; the patient who wishes to be killed has requested for the process to happen. Non-voluntary Euthanasia is when the patient who is killed from the procedure of Euthanasia made no request and gave no consent to the doctors for lethal injections to injected into them; in Non-Voluntary Euthanasia, the doctors think that they know what is best for the terminally ill patient, despite their wishes. This is a huge ordeal in the Netherlands; the Netherlands was the first country to legalize Euthanasia in 1984 (Timmis). In 1990, 4,941 of the ill patients who did not give their consent to doctors for their lives to be taken away, died because the doctors thought that they knew what would be best, despite the patients’ wishes (Sathya). Next, Involuntary Euthanasia is when the patient who was killed from Euthanasia, neither made no request for it nor asked their doctor to have the process performed. The patient would have made an expressed wish to the contrary. The most common type of Euthanasia is Euthanasia by action, which is intentionally killing the patient by lethal injection. Euthanasia by omission is intentionally causing the patients’ death by not providing them the necessities of life; such as ordinary care, food, and water. Euthanasia by omission is very rare and only happens from time to time. 

Euthanasia gives doctors too much power and prevents future medical research from being performed. “Doctors should strive to relieve suffering, not end the life of the sufferer; the authority to terminate life would underestimate their trustworthiness” (Mak). People should end their lives in a natural way, not a way that lets the world think killing is okay. The main question is “Why do doctors help with assisted suicide when they are supposed to be saving people’s lives?” Doctors who perform Euthanasia can ruin the doctor-patient relationship. It can reduce the trust and the commitment in the healing of the patients (Sathya). “People become doctors to support human beings in their darkest hour, and there is something so deeply human about that connection, and to take it away with a lethal pill, instead of supporting patients through these difficult periods, will destroy us” (Mak). When doctors finish all of their schoolwork, they must sign the Hippocratic Oath. This oath works towards the benefit of health in patients. The Oath states that it forbids the use of deadly drugs and abortions. 

In today’s medical field, science is constantly improving. It’s mind-blowing to look and see how many different medicines have been invented to help with millions of diseases that were thought to be inoperable. You never know when a supposedly ‘incurable disease’ becomes curable because of new and improved medicine. There are tons of medicines that are in development right now, and maybe it’s the cure to a terminal illness. An example of a disease which was first immedicable for so long and is known as, Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, now has a phenomenal survival rate of 89% due to an unimaginable development in a medicine known as Gleevec. “Kill the pain, not the patient” (Diaconescu).

The main purpose for the use of Euthanasia is to stop patients suffering and the pain that they are in. There are all different kinds of medicines that help treat pain based off of the severity of it. Doctors are willing to give pain medicine, but not too much of it. Using Euthanasia for pain relief is unethical and morally wrong. These patients that are suffering, need the medication in order for their lives to be healthier and for the patient in general to be happier while going throughout this horrible process. There is a service known as palliative care in hospitals, who deal with providing support and making sure the severely ill patients are comfortable towards the end of their life. It is supposed to help patients forget about their painful symptoms. Palliative Care helps patients regain and improve their physical, emotional, and social needs. People who are suffering from terminal illness have Palliative care included in each of the hospitals, and the goal is to possibly reduce the number of patients wishing to die through Euthanasia. In Canada, 90% of doctors who work in Palliative care oppose Euthanasia (Hendin). Palliative care has a positive impact on the patients; meanwhile, Euthanasia has a negative connotation. Euthanasia is never necessary, especially if the patients are receiving palliative care.

Euthanasia is irreversible. Once Euthanasia is performed, there is no going back. What if your unexpected recovery was a few days away? Miracles happen and they happen each and every day. Doctors make mistakes regarding prognosis’s, and it is never guaranteed that whatever a doctor tells you is 100% true. We’ve all heard stories about how a doctor said they had days to live, and it turns out that person is still well and alive a year later. Their families would always think “what if…” There is so much development in research that happens each and every day, there is no way to tell what could have happened. Personally, I know a few of my family members and relatives, who have suffered from terminal illnesses, and they pushed through the pain just to spend that little time that they have left with their family. I was little enough to have not known the severity of what they were going through, but it definitely made a difference with the last moments that were spent together.

Legalizing Euthanasia can lead to suicide contagion. If assisted suicide becomes legal, and doctors incorporate it into their practices, it’ll make the society think that suicide is the answer to your problems. If suicide is illegal, then why should Euthanasia be legalized? Especially since suicide in the United States has increased tremendously in the past few years, legalizing Euthanasia would make it even worse.  In the Netherlands, 1 in every 30 deaths are assisted (Timmis). “There are private charities in the Netherlands, that operate mobile Euthanasia units, and they travel from door to door, to help anyone die who has been denied the opportunity by a doctor” (Diaconescu). The Netherlands was the first country to legalize Euthanasia in 1984, so they think they have a lot of experience with the subject matter of Euthanasia (Timmis). Some quantative studies have been reported on Euthanasia, and most of the patients who participated in this were depressed, in burden, had issues of control and autonomy, or functional impairment. None of which were terminally ill, which is supposed to be the only reason for Euthanasia. “Most people, regardless of religious affiliation, know that suicide is a terrible tragedy, one that a compassionate society should work to prevent” (Parris).

The opposing viewpoints of why people believe that Euthanasia should be legalized is because people have control over their own bodies and they should be able to do what they want, when they want with it. People have the right to die if that is what they wish to do. Human beings have the right to make decisions for themselves, so if they are in a lot of pain and suffering, it only would be right to let them pass away in peace. Imagine being extremely sick in a hospital bed and a few days near death. There is no point in experiencing the pain on the days you have left if you are ready to be put to sleep. Loved ones and close friends should understand that this is a self-choice procedure, and they should be supportive no matter the circumstance. Another reasoning on why Euthanasia should be legalized is the amount of money for health care in each country, and the number of hospital beds are limited. It would be wasteful to use all of that money and space in the hospitals to keep patients alive, when the patient themselves don’t even want to be alive anymore. It’s really sad to see a patient endure that much pain, and friends and family of the patient have no clue how unbearable the pain is. The process of Euthanasia would definitely put a burden on the patients’ family and friends, but they know that their loved one is not suffering anymore. Euthanasia is already legal in some areas; such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Colombia, and Luxembourg, and patients travel to these places in order to get this procedure done, depending on how serious they are about it. 

Life is so sacred, and taken for granted the majority of the time. To legalize Euthanasia would go against anything that we have ever learned. Euthanasia encourages patients who may or may not want to live, feel pressured to end their lives. Although Euthanasia relieves pain and ends suffering, legalizing Euthanasia can lead to more serious matters, such as suicide contagion. There are ways around Euthanasia, there are plenty of different medicines to help heal the pain of patients who are suffering from fatal illnesses. Euthanasia to me is taking an ‘extreme measure’ and performing a procedure that a patient can live without. 
