s better than being kept alive through extraordinary means. For example, some terminally-ill patients may choose death because it is more dignified than being kept alive with a life-support system. Other patients might choose death in order to be relieved from the suffering and pain which are associated with terminal illness. Still other patients might choose death because of the financial burden which is required in order to pay for their life-support systems. In all of these cases, the idea of the patient's right to free choice is involved. Thus, the major argument in favor of euthanasia is that it pertains to an individuals right to self-determination. In cases in which patients are incapable of indicating their own choice, proponents of euthanasia believe that the immediate family should have the right to decide what the patient would have wanted.
Those who are opposed to euthanasia, on the other hand, see it as a form of murder, because it involves one person helping another to die. Some opponents argue that the power of life and death belongs to God alone. others argue that euthanasia is
wrong because a cure for a person's illness could be discovered
at any time. It is also noted that a patient who was wrongly
diagnosed could be allowed to die unnecessarily. Perhaps the
most powerful arguments against euthanasia are centered around the threat that it could lead to worse things in society. Wh
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