Against Euthanasia

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Euthanasia Essay

Introduction

In this essay I am going to try and find out whether Euthanasia is right or wrong, and if it should be legalised or not. I will go about this by looking at all aspects of the argument, I will look at real life stories, the emotional, religious, ethical, laws, medical and the financial aspects of the argument. Then at the end of the essay I will give my own opinion.

Euthanasia, is the practice of ending a person’s life to release someone from an incurable illness or if the person is in intolerable pain. This can only be done if it is the persons will (if they are over the age of 18,) or if the person has a living will, which was written before they became ill, or are in coma. But even then, Doctors go against the will of the person and do what they believe to be right. If the person is under the age of 18 then the doctors decide how they should treat them, and if they are in a coma there is no chance of them surviving, then the parents or guardians of the person can decide if they want them to stay alive or to switch the machines off. There are different types of Euthanasia, two of these types are Passive Euthanasia, which is when nothing is done to prevent death e.g. when Doctors don’t use an artificial respirator to keep alive someone terminally ill. Another type of Euthanasia is Active Euthanasia which is painlessly putting someone to death.

Living will is when a person writes what they wish to happen to them if they were in a certain position, e.g. if the person was involved in an accident and became severely brain damaged and they had written that they would like to be allowed to die rather than to be treated, then they should be allowed to die. Although Doctors do not always do as they were asked to in the living will and go against the person’s wishes.

Against Euthanasia

When a person dies there are many people, like relatives and friends that will be affected. It would be very upsetting for the relatives and friends of a person who was helped to die, because they may not know the reasons for the person wanting to die, and they may feel that they could have been treated or helped. Also if the person was in a coma and being kept alive by life-support machines, there always a chance that the person may begin to show signs of improvement at any time, ‘miracles can happen’. This was proven true ‘when a day before Catherine Roberts’s life machine was going to be removed, she blinked, stuck her tongue out and mouthed ‘I love you’ at her mother.’ So some people feel that there is always a chance for the person to recover. When a person has a serious illness (not in a coma and are perfectly sane,) and it is almost one hundred percent certain they will not to recover they may be depressed and not actually mean what they say. This could mean that a relative or friend could not understand or know that the ill person is depressed and help them to die with out realising they are depressed. Another emotional aspect of this argument, which is probably very rare, is that a friend or relative of the ill person may know that they are wealthy (especially if they are old, and if they know that the money would get passed on to them,) and pressurise or persuade and take advantage of the ill person that it would be for the best and a lot less painful if they were to die quickly. If Euthanasia stayed illegal it would be protecting elderly people from undue pressure.

Ethically, it could be wrong to take any decisions about another persons’ life and it may be seen as murder of a kind to help someone take a life even if it is what the person wants. People arguing against Euthanasia say that permitting health service professionals to engage in active Euthanasia creates risks of abuse and misuse of the power over life and death.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Many Christians believe that Euthanasia is wrong; they think this because they believe that everyone is meant to die at a certain time, not when they decide. Today most branches of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam sometimes permit restricted forms of passive Euthanasia, but following traditional religious principles, Western laws have generally treated helping someone to die as a form of unlawful killing.

There are different laws against Euthanasia according to which part of the world you are in, but at the moment it is against the law in Britain to commit any sort of Euthanasia, it is also not accepted in many other parts of the world.

If a person in Britain commits Euthanasia to help someone then they will almost definitely be taken to court and usually sent to prison, and convicted if attempted murder or manslaughter. There are many examples of people that were just helping a friend or relative to die painlessly, that got sent on probation or to prison, sometimes for many years. One example of this is when Phillipa Moners helped her mother to die as she was disabled and in a wheel chair and in great pain. Her mother had been asking Phillipa to help her, and Phillipa could see she was in pain. Phillipa was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to two years in probation. Tony cobhert is in prison serving a life sentence in jail for helping his wife to die because she was ill and in a wheel chair.

The professional health care service plays a big role in why Euthanasia is illegal. Most Doctors are against Euthanasia and will not help any one to die and would prefer to give them medication to help them get better, or just keep them alive. Lots of doctors think that people should be kept alive just in case there is any hope of them recovering. If doctors ever decided to give a patient drugs that they knew could help them to die, and they also knew that the patient was in pain, ill and wanted to die, then the doctor could also be sent to jail.

If someone was being treated in a private hospital or if they were in a coma and were in a private hospital, somebody has to pay for the treatment. If Euthanasia was legalised and more people decided that they would rather be helped to die than be treated, then the private hospital could loose a lot of money. This could eventually mean that there would not be enough money to pay for the doctors.

For Euthanasia

If someone is helped to die under their own will, it would not just be doing what the ill person wanted by them not having to go through as much pain, but it would also be more assuring to relatives and friends that the ill person is dying how they wanted to. This also means that relatives and friends know when the person is going to die and they can say all things that they wanted to say. This way they will know that the person was not in any pain whilst they died and that they were happy. Euthanasia quickly and humanly ends a person’s pain and suffering. One example of this is when ‘Jennifer and Vicky’s’ mother was helped to die. They said “We knew our mum was dying, and we will always be grateful to our her killer because she was in pain and it is what she wanted.”’

If someone is in a coma or suffering from a mental illness or disability, and in their living will it states that if they were ever in this position that they would rather be helped or let to die rather than to be treated, then the person should be treated according to what their will states. It could be ethically wrong to take any decisions about any bodies life, especially if they have a living will, stating what they would like to happen.

In Britain it is against the law to commit Euthanasia, but in other parts of the world it is legal. In Washington City it might legalise Euthanasia for people whose life is not going to last much longer and they are going to be put through a lot of pain. If Euthanasia is legalised it will give people the right to help their relative or friend to die without being sent to prison. Tony Bland was eighteen when he fell into a coma; he is now twenty- one and is still in a coma. He is able to cough and breathe but he is kept alive by a life support machine. Doctors say that he will never recover and that there is no hope of him ever waking. His parents are not allowed to remove his tubes even though it is what they believe he would have wanted, because they would be sent to jail. If Euthanasia was legalised many cases like Tony Blands’ would be a lot easier to solve. Another example that could have been solved a lot easier if Euthanasia was legalised, is Mrs Prides’ story. Mrs Prides husband took his own life because he was in so much pain, he did not ask Mrs Pride to help him because he did not want her to go to jail. Mrs Pride says that she wishes she could have been there to say good-bye, but if she was there to help him die she could have gone to jail.

The cost of keeping or preserving the life of someone who is in intensive care amounts to about the same as having twelve hip operations per year. This could mean that (especially if the person does not want to be alive,) the money is being spent on something that is not appreciated by the person receiving the treatment, that it would be more cost effective to use on a hip operation that may improve the life of somebody that needs (for instance,) a new hip.

My own opinion

I think that Euthanasia should be legalised. My reason for thinking this is because I think it would end a lot of pain and suffering, for both the ill person and relatives and friends of the ill person. If the Queen or somebody very important were extremely ill and in a lot of pain then she would be treated as she wished. Also if somebody is ill and they go ahead with treatment and go through a lot of pain even though they did not want to, but they had to, and they died after they had gone through with it all when they could have died quickly, painlessly and happier. If Someone in my family was terminally ill I would not like to see them suffer or be in great pain, I would want somebody to help them and take the pain away, and I think that everybody would feel the same way. Also I do not think that it is right to against somebody’s wishes especially if they have a living will, and Doctors should do what the patient would have wanted and not what the doctor believes even if they are just doing their job.

So I believe that Euthanasia should be legalised.