An eighty-seven year old grandmother on a respirator, anewborn child with AIDS, and a father in a coma; all put to deathby respectable doctors with the O. K. of their families.
But isit really 3O. K. ? Euthanasia, or doctor-assisted suicide, hasbecome as common as jumping off of a fifteen story building ortaking a gun to one1s own head. Certainly society frowns uponsuicide, but yet putting an old lady or a man in a coma to deathis being accepted every day.
Society knows that suicide is bad,but euthanasia is even worse. The guilt and blame of a lost lifeis falling on the hands of doctor1s that we are supposed totrust, and even worse, the family members themselves. A doctoris to be known as a healer, not an agent of death. A family issupposed to love and support, not kill and inherit. Every personmakes the light of the world brighter.
The world needseveryone1s power and contribution. It1s the power and energy ofthe elderly, and the strength and will of the ill, that give theworld life. The light has become very dim with the crime andcorruption in today1s world, we can1t afford to throw lives awaybecause some think they1re meaningless. If we continue to acceptthe merciless killings and suicides of the helpless but powerful,the light will soon burn out.
There will be no energy in theworld. Euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide should not beaccepted or allowed by the government and people of the UnitedStates. Statistics show that seventy-three percent of the U. S. population approved of some form of euthanasia. This is usedconstantly in debates to pass laws for making euthanasia legal.
But the people are deceived by this number. When the poll wastaken, the people were asked if they approved of “some form” ofeuthanasia. There are two forms of euthanasia, active andpassive. It is the passive euthanasia that many people areaccepting, the less harsh of the two. That’s why peoplegenerally say they approve of it.
If a separate question wasasked or the people were informed of the difference, we wouldfind that only thirty-eight percent of the population approves ofactive suicide, as used by Kavorkian. So the fact that peopleapprove of euthanasia is irrelevant because only thirty-eightpercent would actually pass a law if they knew that Kavorkian1smethods would be allowed. However, it is said that passive euthanasia, suicide by theremoval of life support, is a long-time practice for hospitalizedpatients. But does this make it O. K?I should think not.
Manythings have been accepted and practiced in the world, and many ofthem have become illegal. Not too long ago a teenager coulddrink whenever he wanted. Now we have laws to regulate thedrinking age. This is the same type of thing, something terriblehas going on for too long now. We need to put a stop to thekillings with a law. Just because something has been allowed andoccurring for a long time doesn1t mean that it1s O.
K. Also,there is the issue of living wills. A living will is a documentthat protects the right of choice in end of life matters forpatients. And not everyone has a living will when they becomeill even though they don1t want to live through the agony andpain.
They just don1t think to make one or plan on being ill andincompetent. But with or without a living will, it1s just notright to end a life, even if it1s one1s own. Many think thatthey should be able to decide on their own, but what about theirfamilies. The family will spend the rest of their liveswondering in agony and pain about whether or not a cure wouldhave been found or if the patient would have made it outof the coma.
It wouldn1t be right to spread the pain by addingto the fire. But some say, 3Why waste the money and extend thepain and agony by keeping someone on a machine? We need to lookat life in a more positive way. We need to weigh the mattersevenly. What1s more important, the life of a family member ortrying to save money and pain.
Clearly it is the life, nothingis more important than that. Approximately one billion dollarsis spent on life support patients annually. But the cost ofkeeping people alive is irrelevant if there is a chance thatthey may be cured or come out of a coma. More importantly, we need to look at the reasons why it1sused, not just what people think about it. Life and death is ahuge issue, a person can1t afford to be pressured into a drasticdecision about their life.
Whether it1s unconscious or not,doctors, family friends may pressure a patient to choose death. We need to eliminate the option or we1ll always have theissue of whether or not the patient was pressured into suicide. That is certainly not right. It probably doesn1t make sense thatfamily members would actually pressure a loved one into suicide,but money is the real issue. The doctors can make a lot of moneyand the families will save on medical bills while inheriting alot of money and belongings.
Think about the disabled, retarded,unassertive, poor, and even the elderly. All very vulnerable toan influential person. Yes, even little Ool grandma. Americansaged eighty-five and older is the largest category faced witheuthanasia. In 1950 there were over a half of a millionAmericans aged eighty-five and older and by 1990 that number grewto 3.
1 million. With the medical technology we have and theprogress we are making to improve today, the number of Americansolder than eighty-five will be more than twice that of 1990 inthe year 2005. We are spending millions of dollars for medicaltechnology to save lives, we shouldn1t let live be thrown awaywhen hard working citizens are paying taxes to help keep themalive. Also, the reasons that euthanasia is used may just be flatout wrong.
Many times, a patient gives up their life becausethey feel like a burden to their family. If this is so, what hasthe world come to when the people that a patient has known,loved, and respected for so long, makes them feel like a burden. A person is supposed to be able to go to their family forsupport, that1s what a family is all about. Sticking togetherand getting through problems the right way, not ending one1slife.
Many times a patient feels like a burden because oftreatment costs. The cost of treatment is way too high for manypatients to afford, so they go to their families. But rather thansupport and help, the patient gets resistance and feels as thoughthey have become a burden. This causes them to want to turn todeath, rather than trouble the one group of people that aresupposed to be there for help in times of need. Furthermore, without passive euthanasia millions of livescan be saved. A law has to be made to stop these 3mercykillings.
There are thousands of people that are seriouslyhospitalized with a terminal disease or a coma. An estimated ten-thousand of these hospitalized patients die daily. Seventypercent of these deaths are a direct result of 3secretlywithdrawing life support. Yes, everyday a number of patientsdie from a family member paying a visit to them and 3pulling theplug while the doctor isn1t around. It1s bad enough that wehave so many troubles with general homicides and suicides, butnow it1s time to concern ourselves with the killings that aregoing on in hospitals.
The institution that we go to forgood health, security, and treatment is doing just the oppositeand it needs to be stopped. If a law is passedthat makeseuthanasia illegal, then people will definitely think twicebefore helping someone end their life. There has to be price topay for helping one commit suicide, it should not be takenlightly. By passing a law against euthanasia, thousand of liveswill be saved. Next is the issue of active euthanasia, actively takingmeasures to help end the life of another.
This is the type ofeuthanasia practiced by Doctor Jack Kavorkian and arguedabout all over the world. Many important issues surface whendiscussing active euthanasia. First, there is the argument that aperson has the right to choose. Each individual should be ableto make the decision of whether or not they want to live in painor die with dignity.
Otherwise people are just like robots thatare controlled by laws, society and always have to do what othersthink is right. But is giving up a life and committing suicidereally dignified? There is always the chance of coming out ofa coma and finding a cure for a disease. Thousands of doctorsare working to find cures for every terminal disease all over theworld. When there1s the chance of being cured like there alwaysis, there is no reason to commit suicide.
No matter how anyonelooks at it or says it, suicide is not dignified. Everyone hasthe right to choose, but it the choices are how to lead and livetheir life, not end it. And there is nothing robotic aboutfollowing laws that are made to protect the people and thesociety they live in. Choices about how one1s life will endaren1t to be made by oneself, they can choose how to lead theirlife but there is no dignity gained by committing suicide. Secondly, just because something is considered to be sinful bythe Bible or in any other religion, doesn1t mean it should be acrime.
We live in a democracy where the people, of allreligions, make the laws. They shouldn’t be based on anyreligion or religious book. But we1re not talking about the sinof suicide, where talking about euthanasia. Euthanasia isassisted suicide, but isn1t that just a nice name for homicide.
Suicide is killing oneself, but how can you assist yourself. Theassistant is another person who is guilty of conspiracy to commitmurder. Laws are already passed against murder. When someonetakes part in euthanasia they1re not going to be on trial forattempted suicide because they weren1t trying to kill themselves,they were taking the life of another. It1s murder and there1s noother way to look at it.
Next is the belief that activeeuthanasia should be tolerated in order to save agony and painfor both the family and patient. No one should have to gothrough so much agony over a long period of time. Many think that it1s torture not to help dying patients. Kavorkian accused opposing physicians of being “Nazi doctors” whotorture and experiment with the poor and unfortunate. However,what is the agony andpain? It is the agony and pain of deathand it has to be faced either way, but it shouldn’t be because ofa suicide.
We should face the pain and agony with strength anddetermination. The patients need to be determined to hang onand fight for cures. It1s not torture to keep someone alive inhopes of a cure. And if a patient is that ill, then they aren1treally going through that much physical pain, it1s the mental andemotional states of patients that need to be secured.
That1s thereason many turn to suicide, they are unhappy with their livesso they begin to decline mentally and emotionally. And as far asexperimenting goes, no experimental drug or procedure is forcedupon any patient, including the elderly and incompetent. Andwhat do they have to lose anyway? Most don’t mind usingexperimental drugs because it just may be the cure they1relooking for. There is nothing “Nazi” about testing drugs andcures in hopes of saving a life. There is no torture or directresult of death. So, in actuality there is no physical agony orpain saved in euthanasia because that’s not what the patients aregoing through.
It just shortens the mental and physical painthat can be helped in other ways than death. Either way, suicideis no answer to pain.
