Euthanasia

Humane or insane?

In ward seven of the Royal Hospital in Belfast, a woman called Betsy, is lying ill on an impersonal mass produced hospital bed.  She is terminally ill.  She’s dying of bowel cancer.  Her limited future is bleak. Everyday there is a new ache a new pain.  As time goes on her senses will gradually fail one by one.  Her memory will be the first to go.  Soon she will not be able to recognise even her closest family.  Her visitors will be just like any other doctor or nurse who calls on her occasionally.  Before things got so bad, Betsy was an outgoing lady who was eighty seven years young, who had lived her life to the full before this disease gripped her life.  She was married for 60 years, to her loving and caring husband Brian. They had 4 children together James, John, Colin and Stephanie.  Each child grew up in a warm caring environment that Betsy and Brian created for them, and they had provided an excellent example for them on how to live their own lives.  Betsy had many friends and her hobbies included golf, bingo and knitting.  In the last eight months unfortunately Betsy’s health has deteriorated.  Her family have watched in anguish as they slowly see their mother’s quality of life steadily decline in front of their own eyes, powerless to stop it. Since this cancer has gripped her life Betsy has been bed ridden, during that time Betsy could see what the effect of her condition was having on her family, they were emotionally and physically drained.  Through weeks of consideration and debate Betsy had decided that she wished to die with grace and dignity and own her own terms.  First she spoke to Brian about the idea, although he didn’t want her to die he could see it was best all round.  Her and Brian announced the news to their family, initially shocked and distraught they pleaded with her to changed her mind but with Betsy’s usual charismatic charm she convinced them that it was in her and her families best interest.

Her husband with a tear in his eye bravely spoke to the hospital authorities but nothing can or will be done as it is against the law.  Euthanasia or mercy killing as it is also known is being considered by millions of people in Betsy’s situation today.  Euthanasia is currently illegal in the UK but should it be? After all isn’t humane to let someone die?  Voluntary euthanasia is the assisted suicide of someone who wishes that there life would end.  It is against the law in the UK, and those people who are arrested and charged could face up to fourteen years in Prison.  Passive euthanasia is the taking or withholding of treatment even if the person will die.  However doctors cannot directly help the person die e.g. lethal injection.

The term ‘Euthanasia’ comes from the Greek word for ‘easy death’. It is the one of the most public policy issues being debated about today. Formally called ‘mercy killing’, euthanasia is the act of purposely making or helping someone die, instead of allowing nature to take its course. Basically euthanasia means killing in the name of compassion.

 Euthanasia, at the moment is illegal throughout the world apart from in the State of Oregon in the USA and Belgium, where there is a law specifically allowing doctors to prescribe lethal drugs for the purpose of euthanasia. In the Belgium it is practised widely, but it is essential that a clergyman is present.
I believe that everyone has the right to choose how they live and die. Everyone deserves respect, freedom and the power to control their own destiny. Not everybody will have an easy death. Some terminal pain cannot be controlled, even with the best of care and the strongest of drugs. Other distressing symptoms, which come with diseases, such as sickness, no mobility, incontinence, breathlessness and fever cannot always be relieved. Pain is not always the issue - quality of life is too.
Most people want to die with dignity, but some people may spend the last moments of their life, in a way, which to them, is undignified. Having the right to control over their own life and death helps people keep human dignity in the face of their suffering.
People should not be left lingering in pain. They should not have to suffer when death is inevitable. People do have the right to commit suicide, although it is a tragic and individual act. However euthanasia is not suicide. It is not a private act, you have the support of family and friends. Euthanasia is about letting a person assist another’s death to save them from long painful deaths.
Many people argue, however, that a person who is terminally ill may make a miraculous recovery - it has happened in the past. Euthanasia should be only needed for those whose pain is not relived with any form of care or whose bodily disintegration is beyond bearing.
For those who are suffering in agony a pro-longed life is unthinkable for people with a condition which, leaves the brain alert but eventually shuts down all bodily functions and skills of communicating. How can people be expected to live like this? For people like this I believe that their close family should have the choice and the trust to let them live a prolonged life or to end their life and let them die with dignity. If people could make the decision themselves then I believe that the option of euthanasia should be open to them. Some people might also want euthanasia because the drugs they require to ease the pain are very expensive and are not available on the NHS, so rather than see their assets diminish, they would rather slip away.  For others the problems might lie much deeper, years of suffering have left them down and out, they are feeling depressed and see euthanasia as there only option but it is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.  

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However euthanasia has its opposition, people believe that no one has the right to play God. Christians believe that we are made in the image of God and therefore human life is God’s gift to us and is uniquely precious - we are not the owners of life, but it’s minders’, we belong to God because he made us. Many religions follow this principle, so do not believe in suicide and assisted dying.  People who do not agree with voluntary euthanasia often refer to the 1967 Abortion Act.  They argue that the numbers of abortions, which now take place ...

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