In the program, an elderly lady asked her best friend to help her kill herself because she had terminal cancer. The old lady didn’t want to be a burden to her family and friends, so she pleaded with her close friend to help her die by giving her an overdose of drugs. Her friend was a Christian and believed that it was a sin to do this as the church thinks only God should have the power to give and take life, and tried to persuade the ill lady not to put her in this position. The lady became very ill and pleaded once again with her friend to help her die; she said that if she was an animal a vet would put her to sleep because it would be cruel to keep it alive. This made her friend think and in the end she did it. This story highlights the difficulties involved for both parties.
As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, most religious groups in the world, like Christians, Jews, Muslims, consider euthanasia to be murder or at best suicide. If it is murder, the person who helped the person to die would be prosecuted, this makes it hard for anyone to do this for fear of going to jail. On the other hand, if it is deemed suicide the person would not be able to be buried in church grounds: this may put a lot of people off even attempting it. These religious groups feel that because only God should have the power to give life, then only God should have the power to take life away.
Some people argue that because the person is so ill and delusional then they do not know what they are saying; therefore you can’t act upon their statement. In some cases this may be true; for example, if a patient is suffering from severe pain, he or she may ask someone to help them die because the pain is affecting their ability to think rationally. If the person carries out this deed they may be left wondering if it was the right thing to do or not.
Euthanasia is illegal in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and many other countries in the world. This is to ensure it is not mistreated or abused. For example, if a person is ill, their family may use this as an excuse to kill the person to get their inheritance. It is also of worry to governments that people may want to be put to death because they think they have an incurable illness, when, in fact, this may prove to be a wrong diagnosis. In a recent court case in London, a woman with motor neuron disease appealed to the High Court to be given the right to let her husband help her to die with dignity, when the time comes, so that he would not be prosecuted for assisted suicide. The judges have recently denied her appeal.
Euthanasia is one of the most controversial topics in the world at the moment, the differences between the church and governments, and the families of the people that it really concerns are numerous. The governments have a point in being wary of the practice of euthanasia, as it could be deadly if it was mistreated. On the other hand it is deemed cruel by a lot of people to keep anyone living against their will, for example you wouldn’t keep a dog alive if it had a terminal illness because that would be cruel. The church say that it is wrong to take your own, or somebody else’s, but surely “God” would rather someone be peaceful and comfortable than living on in pain.
In conclusion I personally feel that the practice of euthanasia should be perfectly acceptable for the world in the twenty first century in which we are now living. I think that the government need to work in conjunction with the Medical Ethical committee, who decide whether it is morally right for doctors to be put in the position of making life or death decisions concerning us, to find a way to put laws in force to make sure this practise is not misused. Why should the government have the right to say whether someone can be put out of their misery if they have an incurable illness?
