Dr._Jack

Dr. Jack Mercy Killing or Just Plain Killing: The Euthanasia Debate For as long as people have been around, we have been dying. While this very well may seem to be pointing out the obvious, so many of us forget that we, as humans, are mortal beings. Our life span is definitely finite, and necessarily so; just think what would happen if nobody ever perished. Even though we are mortal, we try to hang onto our lives as long as we can; fear of death and wanting to live forever are, after all, part of human nature. Sometimes, however, medicine takes advantage of this aspect of humanity and, to a great extent, capitalizes on it. While it is certainly true that one goal of medicine has always been to prolong life, another goal has been the alleviation of pain and suffering. One point at which these two views collide, often violently, is over the hotly debated issue of euthanasia. Euthanasia, or “mercy killing,” as it has been called, is certainly not an issue with just two sides. There are many shades of gray involved, so to speak. Euthanasia, after all, ranges from simply allowing an individual to die naturally without life support euthanasia, die, life, people, one, death, cases, suicide, killing, while, pain, much, individual, after, murder, just, issue, been, support, rather, medicine, make, certainly, another, somebody, person, patient, mercy, lot, lives, control, because, assisted, anyway, through, things, suffering, someone, right, prolong, painful, over, out, loved, long, killed, kevorkian, illnesses, human, however, having