Though suicide is a legal act which is available to everyone who wishes it, person who is terminally ill, or lying on a hospital bed or is disabled may not be able to commit suicide by themselves. They might not be able to commit suicide because of either mental or physical limitations. This is where active euthanasia comes into play.
In active euthanasia, which is the main type of euthanasia that I will talk about, is death caused by the direct result of steps taken by a doctor, family member, or friend. The most common type of active euthanasia occurs when a person is with a painful, incurable disease asks a doctor for help in dying. The doctor then gives the patient a drug and instructs the dosage needed for a quick painless death. The patient can then take the drug whenever they choose to. This type of euthanasia is also known as assisted suicide. One well known case of active euthanasia was the mercy killing in 1998 of a patient with a terminal illness by Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a Michigan doctor. Dr. Kevorkian, using gears from small toys be bought at flea markets, built a suicide machine (Batten 18). This machine could deliver lethal drugs through an intravenous tube when the patient touched a switch.
Lastly, for involuntary euthanasia, it is the killing of a person who has not explicitly requested aid in dying.
A terminally ill person who wishes to commit suicide is likely to first seek the advice and help of a physician. This is because physicians know what amounts of drugs are lethal and how to administer such drugs to ensure death and prevent any further suffering. In addition, physicians know their patients and their patient’s illness and are therefore in the position to offer personalized, expert opinions about the options available to them (Weir 61). So by prohibiting physician assisted suicide, it restrains doctors who want to show compassion to patients whose bodies are on the verge of falling apart despite excellent medical care provided.
The New England Journal of Medicine in 1998 reported on a survey of medical doctors in the state of Washington that showed 54 percent thought euthanasia should be legal in some circumstances, and 40 percent said they would be willing to assist patients in suicide (www.sciam.com). This just shows that the majority are doctors who believe in and are willing to assist patients in euthanasia.
Although active euthanasia is illegal in most countries of the world, euthanasia is however, legal in the Netherlands. Those performing euthanasia and assisted suicide have to follow certain guidelines and notify the coroner of their actions (Weir 112). If they do not follow those guidelines, they can be persecuted. But like the rest of the world, those who are seriously ill and fatally ill are those who request euthanasia.
Those who are unable to afford pain killing medication who has to live in constant excruciating pain is one reason for those who request euthanasia. For others, they have a terminal illness to which sums up to a large medical bill of which their family members would have to pay when they die; so in order to save money, they would rather die sooner. Fearing the slow step-by-step loss of the quality of life in the future as a disease advances to its later stages, those with a degenerative, progressive illness like Huntington’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, AIDS, Alzheimer’s etc. are also a group that request euthanasia (www.sciam.com). But the main reason patients give for requesting euthanasia is unbearable suffering, both physical and psychological. Some of the physical suffering are symptoms such as constant vomiting, and painful puss filled sores throughout the body. Very ill patients, mainly those who are bed-ridden may feel the psychological pain that they are a burden to their family financially and emotionally.
While some may suggest that those who request active euthanasia are just clinically depressed; that is in fact very true. The patients are depressed for they know what lies ahead, and that they would rather not continue with it and just get it over with, for death is inevitable. Death or near death suffering for some patients, despite the advances in technology and medicine, are too painful and horrifying to look at. They range from toes turning black and falling off, to the cancer that eats through a person’s face.
There are many ways to which euthanasia can be performed. They range from lethal injection, gas, the removal of life support equipment, the withholding of food and fluids, and the removal of necessary medicines. It is legal to turn off a patient’s life support when the higher centers of the brain stop working. Patients are allowed to choose passive euthanasia, but cannot choose active euthanasia. Passive euthanasia is when nothing is done to prevent death. One main form of passive euthanasia is the process of withholding foods and fluids. Many see this as cruelty due to its effects on the patient. It causes nausea, vomiting, heart problems, depression, dry skin, and shortness in breath (Weir 11). As one can see passive euthanasia would further cause the patient to suffer than active euthanasia. This is why active euthanasia should be allowed.
It is an also an individual right whether he or she should ask the doctor in helping them relieve their suffering; no Law or person should deny him/her of it. Because it is his or her own life, the patient should have full control over its length and quality. Living wills that allow for passive euthanasia are essential. They allow the patient to choose beforehand the right not to be put on life support when it is needed, which avoids unnecessary prolonging of life (Weir 63). While passive euthanasia can be guide-lined in living wills, active euthanasia cannot. Ones universal rights include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (Ogden 84). The pursuit of happiness could also be perceived as the pursuit of quality of life. A final consideration is the financial and emotional benefits of euthanasia. If the patient is on life support not only does it cause unnecessary expense, it also causes an emotional burden on the family. The family does not want to see their own relative in pain and suffering for a long period of time. The majority of patients on life-support are not removed until the decision is made to remove it, so cost rises tremendously, but the outcome is the same: death.
Those who are against euthanasia argue that an alternative for euthanasia is hospice care. Caregivers in hospices provide pain control and emotional support to terminally ill patients (Miley 59). But the problem is, while the patient may feel somewhat psychologically better, in the end they still suffer the painful and rather unbearable physical torment of their illness.
There are many countries in the world that has Laws pertaining to euthanasia. For those countries that allow euthanasia almost all have strict guidelines of which doctors will need to follow if they are to perform it.
In Australia Their Northern Territory passed a law on 1995-MAY-25 which was assented to on 1995-JUN-16. It permitted active euthanasia, under careful controls, when certain prerequisites are met (Weir 115).
In Holland, euthanasia is theoretically illegal in this country. However, a law was passed in 1993 which prevents doctors from being prosecuted for euthanasia if:
- the patient is in intolerable pain (including emotional pain),
- the patient has repeatedly and lucidly asked to die,
- two doctors agree on the procedure
- relatives are consulted, and
- the death is reported.
Physicians have complained that the present guidelines left them in a legal dilemma. So on 1999-JUL-12, the Dutch government announced the introduction of a bill to decriminalize physician assisted suicide (Weir 116). Assistance in dying would only be permitted only if:
- The patient must be suffering unbearably. However, they need not be terminally ill
- The patient must make a request on a voluntary, well considered and sustained basis.
- The doctor and patient must have had a long-term relationship.
- There must be no reasonable alternative to relieve the patient's suffering.
- The doctor must consult at least one other independent physician.
- Due medical care must be followed.
In Japan, mercy killing/physician assisted euthanasia would be permitted under four conditions:
- the patient is suffering in unbearable physical pain
- death is inevitable and imminent
- all possible measures have been taken to eliminate the pain with no other treatment left open
- the patient has clearly expressed his or her will to approve the shortening of his or her life.
These are just a few of the countries that have so far allowed euthanasia. But with terminally ill patients who continue to suffer helplessly and who lack options to aid and lessen their suffering, I am sure that in the near future more and more countries will have some Law which legally enables physicians to carry out euthanasia. I am not saying that euthanasia is the way out for anyone who has had a bad day or suffers from the ups and downs of life; but for those who are lying on beds hooked up to machines helpless to do a single thing but wait for death those are who will benefit most from legalizing physician assisted euthanasia.
Works Cited
1) Battin, Margaret P. Drug Use in Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia. New York: Paragon House, 1996.
2) Encarta 98. Computer software. Microsoft, 1998. CD-ROM.
3) Ogden, Russell D. Euthanasia: Assisted Suicide & AIDS. Montreal: Perreault Goedman, 1995.
4) Miley, La Verne. Euthanasia: Mercy or Murder? Nashville, TN: Randall House, 1993
5) Weir, Robert F. Physician Assisted Suicide. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998.
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