Euthanasia

Jacelyn Peabody
Euthanasia

      Everyone knows the name Dr. Jack Kevorkian since the media placed him in the public eye for his actions involved with assisted suicide. He has aided in the deaths of hundreds of patients. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines euthanasia as “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy.” The controversial issue of euthanasia is a very involved moral, social, religious, and political battle. Euthanasia, in its many forms, involves the sacred essence of a human life which creates mixed views if it is an allowable action from many diverse points of view, however ultimately it is that person’s life and that person’s decision. I think that assisted suicide and active euthanasia should be legalized in the United States.
      I think that the patient have the right to end their life when it is known that there will not be any recovery and death is imminent. Human beings have the right to die in dignity and shouldn’t have to endure pain. If someone is in so much pain that they feel that living isn’t worth it anymore and they are suffering in such a degree where even the loved ones can’t stand seeing them in so much pain that they seek out a doctor to put them out of their misery, why does the government have the right to stop them?
      Passive euthanasia is when medical treatment keeping the patient alive, such as being on oxygen or the feeding tube, is withdrawn, causing the person to die. This is currently legal and I think that this is reasonable. It is simple Darwinism, survival of the fittest. Not that long ago, when medical technology wasn’t as advanced as it is now, people had to survive by their own means and if they weren’t strong enough to survive, they weren’t kept alive by artificial methods. If there is little hope for a person, I think that it should be up to the family to decide whether or not to let nature take its...