Mariah Miller
Comp 2/NWU 1010
14 April 2015
Euthanasia: A Beneficial Decision
You probably have heard a story or two about a doctor willingly assisting their incurable patient end their life with suicide. Whether or not you agree or disagree, the most important question is this: why would the incurable patient not have the decision in whether or not they continue living? Allowing the terminally ill person to decide their fate is the fair decision to make. Mercy killings should be legal because the only person to decide if the patient continues to live is the patient themselves.
The modern definition of Euthanasia is defined as the painless killing of a suffering, incurable patient. Euthanasia used to be known as “easy death” and I believe that it should still be defined as this. Forcing an incurable patient to continue living a life they no longer want to live is completely immoral. If the patient has decided they do not want to suffer anymore, who are we to say that they must continue to live? “What a person feels, desires, and values are by definition that person’s subjective attitudes, and no one can know better about them than he.” (Fenigsen)
About a year ago, my uncle was diagnosed with kidney cancer in both kidneys. His left kidney was already too cancerous and needed to be removed immediately. I recall him constantly refusing his daughters offers when they suggested a kidney transplant. After the removal of his left kidney he was far from relieved. His doctor was unsure of how cancerous his right kidney already was. He said if his right kidney was too cancerous he’d want our family to pull the plug and let him die peacefully, rather than living as a vegetable hooked up to numerous machines. He was indirectly implying Euthanasia. My uncle would not want to go through the suffering himself or put our family through the pain of watching him live unhappily.
The majority of people who are against euthanasia most likely have not