People suffering from a painful, incurable diseases sometimes wish to commit suicide but don’t actually have the physical strength or means to do so. Sufferers should have the right to choose a painless and dignified exit, either at the time or beforehand in a ‘living will’. A living will is a big part in legal aspects of Euthanasia. It can express a patient’s thoughts towards future medical treatment, it allows anyone capable of making decisions to tell doctors beforehand if they do not wish to be put on life support. We choose to do this for different reasons: religious beliefs or because of pain and suffering that we would endure. The right circumstances for choosing to end your life could be immense pain and distress, helplessness or if you would be subjected to degrading treatment.
Some argue that if we permit voluntary euthanasia, involuntary euthanasia will soon follow, this is called ‘the slippery slope’ or ‘the thin end of the wedge’ argument. However, involuntary and voluntary euthanasia are very different actions and I don’t believe that this would be the case. Voluntary euthanasia is when the person who is killed has requested it; involuntary euthanasia is when the person hasn’t requested to die. Another key idea is the costs involved. Our hospitals are basically wasting thousands of pounds on patients who don’t really want to be there! Drugs that are used in euthanasia only cost around £30 whereas it could cost up to £30 000 to treat a patient properly just so they can lie there in pain, being fed through a tube.
People have the right to do as they wish in this life, we are, after all, born free and equal in dignity and rights and if staying alive forces us to lose our dignity, it is surely up to ourselves to choose our course? Even though hospitals have drugs that can help fight the endless pain, they do only mask it, it’s still there and ready to be released when the painkillers stop working. Death is inevitable and will happen at some point in our lives, so why try to stop it? If people choose to leave this world for whatever reason then surely that is their right and we should respect it. Although I don’t think it is right to legalize all forms of euthanasia I do think voluntary euthanasia is ethically correct and fair, a person should certainly not be put in jail for helping someone, who is in eternal pain and misery, to end their life.
So, why is it that the UK is so against euthanasia? Well, it’s simple; the ‘United’ Kingdom is so wrapped up being united in the old ways we can’t deal with a bit of change. We kept our currency rather than changing to euros because of ‘dignity’. But isn’t euthanasia about dignity? If we kept English Sterling because of dignity then why can’t we change the euthanasia laws and stop English citizens’ dignity being crushed by the arms of medicine? Euthanasia is ethically correct, but not politically correct, since when does politics come into a person’s life choice? It doesn’t.
In conclusion, euthanasia is the right course in most medical situations. It allows people the chance to free themselves from the pain and agony they would otherwise undergo. Therefore I believe voluntary euthanasia should be legalized in the UK as people are, in fact, born free and have their own rights. People shouldn’t be forced to stay alive if it’s not what they want, nevertheless others do not have the right to take that away from them. Put yourself in a terminally ill patient’s shoes, what would you choose: life in a hospital bed, suffering from pain and discomfort being fed through a drip, barely alive or an easy, peaceful death?
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