Euthanasia

Euthanasia has engendered a lot of controversy all over the world.The origin of the word euthanasia can be traced back to the seventeenth century, it was a term actually coined by Francis Bacon, and the meaning it used to have was quite opposite to the meaning some people nowadays seem to give to it. Traditionally, euthanasia meant a painless, happy death, though in modern times, some seem to translate euthanasia as the intentional killing of a terminally ill patient by their doctor’s means. To my mind, the modern view some people wholeheartedly support is totally unfounded.

It is only natural that patients suffering from an unendurable, excruciating pain choose to engage in euthanasia to hasten their death . After all, terminally ill patients have the right to determine what could be done to their bodies. Or else, similarly, people would not be allowed to choose whether they would like their corpses to be buried or cremated, since a doctor would be the only person entitled to take such a decision. Both issues are definitely comparable due to the fact that bodily integrity is in both cases at stake. Will then the doctor be charged with a crime if he decides to cremate the corpse? The obvious answer seems no. So, why doctors should be penalised if they administer medications to put an end to a patient’s life, when it is actually their patient who has conscientiously decided to abstain from any life-saving treatment?

Doctors have long been regarded as healers. Some may hold that it is contrary to the vocation of doctors to intentionally cause a patient’s death. Though there is some truth in this, it cannot be denied, however, that in circumstances where patients are facing a certain death, it is beyond the power of medicine to revert those situations. There is nothing else to be done but to wait until the patient passes away. If the same fate is to be met all the same, then prolonging a patient’s death would be inconsequential.

Personally, I believe there are no downsides of euthanasia. I can only view it in a good light since it spares the suffering of a terminally ill person who seems not to be able to endure such pain any longer.

Pages I've visited: procon.org