Euthanasia

Jacelyn Peabody Euthanasia Everyone knows the name Dr. Jack Kevorkian since the media placed him in the public eye for his actions involved with assisted suicide. He has aided in the deaths of hundreds of patients. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines euthanasia as “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy.” The controversial issue of euthanasia is a very involved moral, social, religious, and political battle. Euthanasia, in its many forms, involves the sacred essence of a human life which creates mixed views if it is an allowable action from many diverse points of view, however ultimately it is that person’s life and that person’s decision. I think that assisted suicide and active euthanasia should be legalized in the United States. I think that the patient have the right to end their life when it is known that there will not be any recovery and death is imminent. Human beings have the right to die in dignity and shouldn’t have to endure pain. If someone is in so much pain that they feel that living isn’t worth it anymore and they are suffering in such a degree where even the loved ones can’t stand seeing them in so much pain that they seek out a doctor to put them out of their misery, why does the government have the right to stop them' Passive euthanasia is when medical treatment keeping the patient alive, such as being on oxygen or the feeding tube, is withdrawn, causing the person to die. This is currently legal and I think that this is reasonable. It is simple Darwinism, survival of the fittest. Not that long ago, when medical technology wasn’t as advanced as it is now, people had to survive by their own means and if they weren’t strong enough to survive, they weren’t kept alive by artificial methods. If there is little hope for a person, I think that it should be up to the family to decide whether or not to let nature take its course. In passive euthanasia, the doctor isn’t killing anybody; they’re just not saving them. Active euthanasia is taking specific measures to end the patient’s life, such as a lethal injection. This issue is highly debated and controversial. Active euthanasia can be considered man slaughter or murder. A well-known example of active euthanasia was the death of Tom Youk. Dr. Jack Kevorkian videotaped himself administering a lethal medication to Tom Youk, a 52-year-old man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Authorities charged Kevorkian with first-degree premeditated murder, criminal assistance of a suicide, and delivery of a controlled substance for administering lethal medication to a terminally ill man, even though Tom and his family sought out Dr. Kevorkian to aid in his suicide. Because of Tom’s condition, he couldn’t press the button himself, so Dr. Kevorkian did it. This case changed from physician assisted suicide, which is when the doctor provides information or the means for the person to end their own life, to active euthanasia because the patient didn’t push the button himself.