How far do you agree or disagree with euthanasia being made legal? Prove your mind.

 

Death is a subject in which everyone has a personal interest. Medical progress has pushed us to new and more personal ethical horizons. What we believe about life and death has enormous importance for our daily lives. Through different cultures with different demographics and divergent concerns the value of human life is reflected through the nation's attitude to voluntary taking of human life.

Thus in reality the word euthanasia means "'good death" and refers to the process by which people's deaths are intentionally brought about by themselves or other people with the desire to relieve pain or suffering.

The main argument of those who support euthanasia in any form is the respect for autonomy: it is my life and I can terminate it as I wish. There are also many reasons for which, people decide to take their lives: it may be unbearable emotional or physical pain coupled with the feeling of isolation and loneliness. It may also be caused by depression which robs people of self-worth and self-esteem. They are very often unaware of the real meaning of death, of its finality

However, it is assisted suicide, especially physician-assisted suicide that has become one of the most emotional and serious issues that society faces today. Physician-assisted suicide occurs under different circumstances from those mentioned above. For many people it is the means to die with dignity. Those who are terminally ill would naturally like to avoid being subjected to slow and painful death. The fear of losing control or their life and their body motivates people to make a decision when they are still in control: death can be good and natural if its manner and timing can be controlled. Thus making a decision like that patients affirm their right to die "a good death"... Christians view life as a gift from God. It is not entirely our own and death which is imposed over humanity as a consequence of our sin can never be good.

It is a belief shared by many that physicians who pledge the Hippocratic Oath to give no deadly medicine even when asked, can turn from healers into death-dealers who are charged with the right to judge when and how to terminate human life.

At the same time many people advocate the need to reexamine medical ethics. Proponents of assisted suicide claim that it's high time to recognize the patients' rights and prevent them from going through the pain that you would not let your dog go through. They are a strong believers that religion and medicine should be completely divorced.

There is a strong movement in the West to legalize physician-assisted suicide because mercy killing quietly goes on every day in hospitals.

Euthanasia is often compared to a slippery slope that brings mankind into a precipice. Pope John Paul II called our culture the 'culture of death'. It is up to oursociety to find solutions: medical, spiritual and emotional.

 

Under a right to privacy, in Russia, the UK and the USA women have the right to have abortions - to end pregnancy by a surgical procedure within the first three months, and with some restrictions thereafter.