Jack Kevorkian a popular euthanasia activist, author and pathologist once said that “dying is not a crime” (“A Quote by Jack Kevorkian”). This short sentence covers the main idea of this paper. Euthanasia refers to the procedure by which an individual or an animal’s life is deliberately ended to stop suffering. There are numerous types of euthanasia, such as, passive, active, passive and active involuntary, voluntary and non-voluntary euthanasia. In this paper, active voluntary euthanasia is what will be discussed. Active voluntary euthanasia is the process of using lethal substances or forces to kill an individual after receiving their consent (“What is euthanasia?"). To some this process of bringing on death is unethical and dangerous, regardless
Many people today are more concerned with not living, than dying. This is a perspective that more terminally ill patients would love to have but, due to the fear of dying, they have no time to actually enjoy life with their peace of mind. It is common knowledge that death is inevitable. If one is going to die one will die, but knowing the future reduces the pressure of dealing with the present. Euthanasia’s effect on a terminally ill patient is similar to the effect of a temporarily ill patient knowing that there is medicine available to cure their ailment. The availability of medicine allows patients to have a sense of peace of mind when they find out that they are sick. They know that this medication has been tested and proven and is obviously available to get rid of their misery. Being that terminally ill patients have no actual medicine to cure their disease, the option of euthanasia has the effect of a cure on terminally ill patients, as it lessens the pressure of life as the patients know that there will always be this medicine or cure that can relieve all their pain and discomfort if their suffering becomes unbearable. In an article, a retired psychiatric nurse states that, the legalization of voluntary euthanasia would bring people peace of mind (“Starving not the way to go”).
As discussed in this paper, a patient’s decision to consent to euthanasia affects their family as well as healthcare funding. With that being said, the decision to legalize Active voluntary euthanasia is an extremely important decision. Emotionally, euthanasia is the better decision as it causes relief for the patient and peace of mind and time for closure for the family members of the patient. It is also less agonizing for the patient and can be done in a way that is respectful to the patient and their family. Financially, euthanasia would lessen the financial burden that would have been left up to relatives to pay off as well as it would reduce the money spent on funding end – of – life care. Therefore allowing it to be spent on trying to find cures for these unsolvable illness. After analyzing the supporting and refuting details pertaining to the issue of the legalizing euthanasia, it is fair to conclude that our government should push to legalize euthanasia in all states of