Mercy Killing? You Have No Right To Die!
Mercy killing is the common term for euthanasia, assisting in the death of a person suffering from an incurable disease. Euthanasia actually is a Greek term meaning “a good death”. But why is Euthanasia illegal? Is it because of religion? Is it because of money?
The person’s “right to die” is one of the most difficult questions for a person. Why shouldn’t’ a doctor help end a life of a person who is suffering from an incurable disease? In 1994, two states- Washington and California- placed a proposition before voters that stated physicians should be able to help people who wanted to die. In both cases the voters defeated them. In Oregon however the voters approved such a measure. This law remained tied up in the state court until 1997, when voters again endorsed it.
Since then, Oregon doctor’s have legally assisted in the death of terminally ill patients. In 1997, however, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that under the U.S. Constitution, there is no “right to die”and this has since slowed the spread of such laws. In 1999 Congress began debating whether to pass a law that would prohibit states from adopting laws similar to the one in Oregon.
Supporters of euthanasia say allowing a dying person to have the services of a physician bring a quick death. Do people have a right to die with dignity? Opponents to euthanasia counter that permitting euthanasia invites abuse. They fear that patients will be pressured to end their lives in order to spare their family members the burden of caring for them or the high cost of hospitalization. Now think about that! Is the medical industry helping this measure to help create more income for their industry? Researchers in the Netherlands, where euthanasia is legal, indicates that about 1/5th of all deaths occurred without a patient explicitly requesting to die (Gillon, 1999).
Why is it ok to put someone to death by lethal injection even though the person does not want to die, but its illegal to help end a life of a suffering patient with an untreatable illness the right to a speedy death? Does religion play an important part in these decisions?
Would love to hear everyone’s opinions on this one!
6 comments
We don’t have the right to take life. God dive us this life so, he is the one have the authority to get it. in the bible One of the connamdnemts is “thou shalt not kill. we need to preserve our life and respect the command of our savior Jesus Crist.thanks
I believe that if I wa in this situation I wouldn’t want my family suffer because of me. It is not their fault I am ill and I would hope that they wouldn’t want me to suffer if they were ill.
who and what religion is to say we dont have the right to die. Narita, you believe God does not want it and its in the bible. Well lets say you are correct, who are you to speak for the large amount of people in the U.S. who arent Christian or dont believe in God. Can you provide examples of what Hindus, Muslims or any other religion believes. I am a nursing student and I took care of a young lady only 27 who had a brain tumor. Before the tumor ruined her life she was gorgeous, healthy, married and had two beautiful daughters. Now she is blind, paralyzed neck down, unable to breath, eat, talk, bathe, go to the bathroom or do anything else on her own. She is far from her family in a hospital, rarely ever gets visits and is stuck in a hospital bed all day unable to even watch tv. She is very depressed, and do you blame her. Well because of our law, she does not have the right to end what is left of her life. For the next 50 years she is stuck in that hospital bed only able to communicate by nodding her head when people read off letters of the alphabet. People say there isn’t anything worse then death, well they havent spent a day in this woman’s shoes.
This isn’t a blac-and-white issue. Every case is different. People should be able to choose for themselves what wroks best for them. ome may want to die, others not, but that’s their choice to make.
why is this a question that is posed to anyone but the person who is suffering, yes god give us life but sometimes he dont come for us soon enough. and plp lay in beds rotting while the familys hangon to them cuz they cant let go of the boby, some plp die way before they are allowed to
I agree that God gave us life but i find it hard to believe that he is vengeful and would deliberately give illnesses to his children. there are many different religions out there and they all have different beliefs, and it is certainly up to the patient who is ill to decide what should happen to them and if they are unable to make that decision then their loved ones should step in. I think we need to ask ourselves “when is someone dead?” If one has alzheimers disease and cant remember who they are or the people closest in their life are they then dead? or if someone is lying in a vegetative state, brain dead, and unresponsive are they not dead? I also would like to make it known that these type of situations can be avoided…there is such a thing as a living will which you can get from your doctor and u can clearly state your wishes in different circumstances.
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