If we are not given the right to die, euthanasia may still be performed, but illegally. If the government chooses not to give people the right to kill themselves legally, then they will just do it themselves anyway. If a dying man cannot be given the right to kill himself, he may still want to do it. An example is Mr. Sebastian Lim, who suffered from a terrible heart disease. Many times he was found by the nurses of the hospital trying to kill himself by trying to jump out of the window, or even trying to cut his wrist with a knife. He claimed he was in intense pain and only thought about dying. If a man like Mr. Lim successfully kills himself, the problem may be solved for him, but if he gets into more pain, the result is clearly not worth the afford. If Mr Li had chosen to jump, he may not die but end up crippled. He will need more treatment, because he is now in more pain. Another way out for Mr. Lim is to ask a second party to help him die. If this takes place, the debate will get even more complicated. If a dying man asks somebody, his doctor or even his relative, to help him die, then the question “Is it murder?” will arise.
But does having the right to die really solve the problem? It may actually hinder or prevent any hope of relieving pain. In Mr. Lim’s case, he was flown over to Australia for a heart transplant. A donor has just died in an accident. Hence, the donor’s heart was transplanted into Mr. Lim, allowing him to lead a normal life. Everything changed because of that accident. If Mr Lim had got himself killed, he may never have been cured. Patients do wake up from comas and miracles do happen. With advancement in medical science and the recent breakthrough in the Genome Project, certain fatal illnesses may be cured. Deadly diseases may not be deadly anymore. A patient may be able to live on because of new medical discoveries, if he did not take his own life in the first place.
We should not have the right to end our own lives because life is all about fighting and struggling. It does not give us the chance to fight our way through illness and pain and emerge a hero. Rather, it gives a cowardly alternative to end the battle against pain. If we choose to kill ourselves, then lie would be lived in vain.
We did not choose to live, and life was given to us. Hence, we have no right to throw it way. In this sense, our life is not ours; it belongs to the one who gave us life and who have mould it through experiences that we share. How can we simply throw life away, when it is not ours? By taking our own life, we are actually trying to say that we are masters of our own fate and in the process, play God, without any considerations for those who have contributed to our fate by being a part of our lives.
In conclusion, I am of the pinion that we should not have the right to die as it undermines the sanctity and value of life. We should live on courageously and make the most of what hope life has to offer.
