Euthanasia is a controversial topic that is being debated all over the world. There are two types of Euthanasia, passive and active, but my topic is centered on active Euthanasia. Active Euthanasia-also known as Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) - is the use of controlled lethal substances to kill. Active Euthanasia should be legal under certain circumstances and should be strictly voluntary. The circumstances in which active Euthanasia should be allowed are as follows: the patient is terminally ill, unable to be cured, suffering from unbearable pain that does not allow the person to move freely, and the doctor must have -unsuccessfully- tried everything possible to stop the pain. The reasons for my argument is that the patient is in unbearable pain, the patient is inevitably going to die, quality of life and people’s right to make choices.
The first reason for my support is that the patient is in excruciating pain. People who oppose active Euthanasia cannot possibly comprehend the suffering the patient has to go through before death from a lethal disease. They may hear the descriptions, but words are not even close to being able to make someone feel the pain. If you can understand the pain, then would not you understand why patients do not want to have to wait for their death? They suffer for what seems an eternity on their deathbed waiting for the end to come. Release from at least one of those endless days of pain with Euthanasia would give them joy.
My next reason is that most patients who want to be actively euthanized are terminally ill. I suppose we all are because everyone will eventually die, but that does not change the fact that terminally ill people have to think about it for the rest of the small amount of time left for them. Euthanizing those patients would also lessen the burden of cost on the family or guardian. Waiting lists would become shorter, allowing more people to receive medical care.
My third reason is the patient’s quality of life. When they are sick with a deadly disease and cannot move around, their life is not worth living anymore. They lose their independence and have to have people take care of them. The patient can no longer move around freely and enjoy life; no more vacations, traveling, genuine family time and freedom. When someone loses all these privileges, especially the last two, life will seem pointless. If active Euthanasia was available for these terminally ill patients, they would not have to live with no meaning.
The last reason for my support is that people should be able to make choices about their own life. Euthanasia is just another choice in life. Therefore, no one should be able to interfere with it, especially the government. There have been cases when the government has interfered with a personal or family decision. An example of this would be what happened with Terri Schiavo. When her husband, Michael Schiavo, made the decision to have her feeding tube removed, her family opposed it. They wanted her guardianship to be taken away from her husband and given to them. The family took the case to court. From then on politicians and courts got involved with the case, and eventually the feeding tube was removed for good. The government should not be able to interfere with personal matters. What they did with Terri Schiavo’s case was intrusive.
I am a supporter of active Euthanasia under special circumstances. My reasons are the patient is in morbid pain, is terminally ill, no longer has any wish to continue living, and that death is a choice people should be able to make for themselves. Humans should be able to end their own suffering without anything except themselves holding them back.