Euthanasia Debate

There are strong proponents on both sides of the debate for and against euthanasia. The word euthanasia comes from two Greek words, "eu" meaning good, and thanatos meaning death. Proponents of euthanasia believe it is everyone's right to die at a time of their own choosing, and in a manner of their own choosing, when faced with terminal illness rather than suffer through to the bitter end. Opponents argue that euthanasia cannot be a "private matter of self-determination and personal beliefs, because it is an act that requires two people to make it possible and a complicit society to make it acceptable" (Somerville 33). They consider euthanasia the equivalent of murder, which is against the law everywhere in civilized society, and maintain that medicine and law are the "principal institutions that maintain respect for human life in a secular pluralistic society." Somerville accuses euthanasia proponents of wanting to make death a purely technical issue, of stripping it of all its humanity, and allowing us to control the time, place, and manner of our death to make it as cheap and efficient as possible. It is interesting that she makes a distinction between euthanasia as an active process designed to end life, yet does not consider withdrawing life-saving treatment in the same light. Others do not make this distinction (Last). It is also of interest that she dismisses the notion that physicians are presently carrying out euthanasia in some cases quietly, and in a dignif

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nd insist that doctors "kill" over 1,000 patients there each year who have not asked for euthanasia. However, Smith claims in the same article that "not much is known about the actual practice of assisted suicide since it is practiced in darkest secrecy" when referring to physician-assisted suicide in Oregon, even though much has indeed been published about it (31-32). Physician-assisted suicide has been legal in Oregon since 1997 (Rollin 127-131). The physician is not permitted to administer the legal dose, but can write a prescription for sufficient medication for the patient to end their life. The physician can be present while the patient ends their life, but may not physically assist in the death, otherwise it becomes euthanasia, which is still illegal in every state in the U.S. Contrary to what euthanasia and assisted suicide opponents would have us believe, since passage of the Death with Dignity Act in Oregon four years ago, only 140 people have asked for prescriptions for lethal medication, and to date, only 91 of them have used these medications to hasten their death. Predictions that the law would be used to coerce elderly poor patients to die have proved false. All but one of the assisted-suicide patients to

Category: Government - E