Thesis Statement
In this thesis, I will discuss the two types of euthanasia; active and passive euthanasia. I would discuss the differences between passive and active euthanasia and the reasons why people think it is a very important aspect when dealing with medical ethics. I will look into why most doctors seem to be comfortable and okay with this kind of doctrine. I will defend why in his defense, Rachels explains that by killing someone there is not much of a difference from allowing an individual to die on his own. In this essay I support euthanasia. This is because people sometimes people suffer a lot and go through much pain before the normal way of death comes along for them. One being injected to take away his pain is so much better and easier as the patient dies in a simpler and faster way rather than suffer continuously when it is so clear there is nothing much the doctors can do to help that particular patient. As much as most people think it is wrong and the doctors have no right to end some else’s life, sometimes it is the best pain reliever for the affected people. It is the patients themselves that in most cases ask the doctor to end their pain instead of continuing to suffer endlessly. Therefore in this essay, I will defend why I think active euthanasia is sometimes if not all times the solution to some technical medical conditions that are not promising or improving to the patient and his family.
People Also Read
There are two major types of euthanasia; active and passive. Active euthanasia is defined as the situation where a doctor takes a particular action and ends a patient’s life. A perfect example of such a situation is when a doctor decides to give his cancer patient an injection and he dies. However, in cases where the patient stops taking his medication and sadly dies, then his death is in his own hands and not the doctors. On the other hand, passive euthanasia is described as a case where the doctor does not interfere with a patient’s treatment neither does he give injections to end the patient’s life but he dies from whatever illness he was suffering from. Most people put so much effort into discussing and negatively viewing euthanasia on patients and they ignore the various conditions people are going through when they suffer from chronic diseases. These may include; independence loss, mental capability loss, loss of control, and many more negative effects that come with them. They forget to understand that people hate being vulnerable and pain that is unrelieved is not the only case where a person can be forced to prefer death to life.
When a person does not comply and refuses medical treatments, they assume it will offer them peaceful and a timely death; unfortunately it does not. If this was the case at all and it caused a patient a peaceful death, then people would never have debates about assisted suicide. When death comes very late to a patient who refuses to take his drugs, then sometimes it advisable to assist them to bring their misery to an end. A situation where an individual is sick and does not want to take medication is already an indication that this individual does not want to live any longer so why not give him a good rest. A patient’s obligation to the people they love must always be considered when making decisions concerning life and death matters. Due to these responsibilities and obligations, death duties arise. Unfortunately, it is sometimes best for people to die to save their loved ones from having sad days and having their lives come to a standstill. In such cases, one can always remove themselves from the lives of the people they love for them to move on and continue with their lives. People should not assume the worst of these scenarios as sometimes they are a sign of love. Sometimes these patients take these actions out of love and people should understand this.
When a patient has no improvements and the doctors cannot do anything anymore, prolonging their lives has a lot of impacts on their families and loved ones. For example, once you are in the hospital and there are no big improvements in your life condition, remember those hospital bills that need to be catered for by your breast cancer. Ann has been a staunch Christian since childhood just like the rest of her family and friends. It causes financial constraints. However, it is not all about the financial stresses but there is also the matter of emotional and psychological stresses that come with all these. Why wait for all those days without any health changes when it can come to an end sooner? No matter how long it takes, death is still coming so why not do it sooner to relieve the loved ones from these fatigues? One can ask for assisted suicide to save loved ones from constant sadness and give them the chance to move on. If a patient truly cares for their quality of life. Arthur should be educated during the discussion with the doctor and also his family members and can see the stress on their faces day in day out, then sometimes the duty to die is the right call to make. Sometimes the burden of existence is much bigger than that of a person’s absence.
I strongly disagree with Vellen’s argument that euthanasia may lead to one having to justify their existence and their living might need an excuse. I disagree with him because this is a person who has been living and enjoying life like everyone else until he suffered a chronic disease. Vellen needs to understand that chronic diseases are not curable and in a case where a patient’s condition is not getting better no matter the doctor’s attempts, euthanasia can be very handy. He needs to understand that sometimes the sadness on the faces of a loved one, when they pay visits in the hospital, is most definitely worth dying for. What of cases where the patient is ready to die in that he refuses to take his medication no matter how many times the family and doctors ask him to. Is that really a person who needs to justify his living? Already he is not taking his mediation meaning he is comfortable not living anymore so why not make the journey lesser, shorter, and less painful?
When Vellen states that there are times the patients think that their illnesses or the disabilities they acquire from the chronic diseases are not good enough reason for them to keep living, he forgets that some of these patients ask for their lives to be taken their misery to come to an end. He forgets that some of these patients just want their family members to move on with their lives and these patients appreciate so much the efforts they have received from their close ones since they began their treatments. Having to take away your life for the people you love and are dear to you does not necessarily mean u justifying your living. Patients sometimes want their lives taken sooner to save their family members from replacing the good family times they had with the sad hospital days. The patients themselves get tired of the misery they live in and the endless drugs that make little or no improvements at all in their lives. Therefore Vellen is not right at all when he claims that assisted suicide makes a person feel they are not good enough to keep living. Think of the people who have had the same conditions for a very long time and instead of getting better, the conditions keep coming back stronger. The body gets tired so does the soul. Their lives do not necessarily depend on their relatives but them.
How can Vellen state that medical ethics is not a good idea and public policies that regulate the relationship between patients and doctors should be vague and weak? The patient-physician relationship is one of the most important relationships on this planet. If his reason to weaken the policies is to help in euthanasia, then I disagree with him. When in the hospital, the physicians are the patient’s confidant and their friend. For a patient to get to the point where he can tell a physician to offer him assisted suicide, then they must have built a relationship. Therefore weakening this relationship will interfere with a lot of medical programs not only cases of euthanasia. Doctors have been authorized to offer these kinds of services to their patients and it is a legal procedure. In some cases in the medical field, it is allowed to allow a patient to die by withholding treatment. However, any direct attempt to take a patient’s life is not allowed at all costs. Most if not all doctors accept this doctrine; in a statement, it is declared by the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates.
Conclusion
In conclusion, most people put so much effort into discussing and negatively viewing euthanasia on patients and they ignore the various conditions people are going through when they suffer from chronic diseases. These may include; independence loss, mental capability loss, loss of control, and many more negative effects that come with them. They forget to understand that people hate being vulnerable and pain that is unrelieved is not the only case where a person can be forced to prefer death to life. A patient’s obligation to the people they love must always be considered when making decisions concerning life and death matters. Due to these responsibilities and obligations, death duties arise. If a patient truly cares for their quality of life. Arthur should be educated during the discussion with the doctor and also his family members and can see the stress on their faces day in day out, then sometimes the duty to die is the right call to make. Sometimes the burden of existence is much bigger than that of a person’s absence. There is totally nothing wrong with active euthanasia. It helps save a lot of people waiting from the obvious. The people who have had the same conditions for a very long time and instead of getting better, the conditions keep coming back stronger. The body gets tired so does the soul.
References
James R., (1967). The end of life: Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide. The New York Times.
Hardwig J., (2007). Dying at the Right Time: Reflections on Assisted Suicide. Oxford: Blackwell
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