Inojosa 1

Jaslyn Inojosa
Jaclyn Hymes
English 113A
11/23/15
Making euthanasia illegal
Euthanasia is giving the terminally ill patient the right to die and is roughly translated into
good death with no pain or suffering. There are many patients who are suffering beyond repair
and doctors always tell them that there is nothing they can do. On November 1, 2014, Brittany
Maynard, a terminally ill 29-year old who moved from California to Oregon to access to the
Death-With-Dignity law died in her home from a lethal dose of barbiturates. If California had the
Death-With-Dignity law; Brittany would not waste the little time left to live moving to another
state and instead have had more time with her friends and family. Valentina Maureira, a patient
with cystic fibrosis, a disease that limits ability to breathe, pleaded to the president of Chile,
Michelle Bachelet, to die because she didnt want to be sick anymore. Her wish came true even
after it was first declined and died peacefully. This topic is highly controversial among many
people; saying euthanasia should not even be an option for patients but dont see the good it can
bring. If the terminally ill are given the chance to euthanasia they can be spared from the pain of
being trapped within their body full of pain, needles, and medicine that is useless to them at the
end. Euthanasia should be legal in all states because it has a lot of benefits: it spares the patient
from suffering, it gives the power to the patient, and helps protect the patients dignity.
Many of the people who oppose euthanasia say that the practice is immoral, inhumane, and
dangerous. On the BBC website they argue that: voluntary euthanasia is the start of a slippery
slope that leads to involuntary euthanasia and the killing of people who are thought undesirable

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(www.bbc.co.uk). They fear that these killings will be done without the consent of the patient
which would lead most of them being killed behind their backs. Patients whose families cannot
afford their treatment will result in members who will abuse this power to get rid of the
undesirable and unworthy to avoid costs. There are evil family members who will do anything to
get the dying patient's insurance money by disposing of them. There can be a chance of an
accidental lethal dose of the poison to the wrong person by a careless nurse. The cheif editor of
the website of nlcatp states: a terminally ill person or someone who is old and suffering from an
incurable disease is often not in the right frame of mind to take a call (http://nlcatp.org/). She is
saying that many people fear if euthanasia is legal it will be misused by people who are not
terminal. There are a lot of sick people in the world and about half of those sick patients are
mentally sick who will jump at the chance to commit suicide. Although euthanasia can be a bad,
many believe that this is sparing the patient and their family from the suffering.
Euthanasia should be legal in all states because it can spare the patient and the family from
suffering. Medications have a lot of side effects that leave the ill physically sick and drained,
even more so with their actual illness. Euthanasia can save the dying patient from living the rest
of their short life in hospitals away from family and in pain. Doctor Jack Kevorkian was a
qualified specialist in the 60s, claimed his career was over by other physicians who feared of his
radical ideas of and fascination of terminal human experimentation. Even though the name
sounds scary, he argued that it was with good intentions saying it was painless and easy. Dr.
Kevorkian, a man who assisted in many suicides and says: Dying is not a crime. Jack implies
that people shouldnt be ashamed to die and they shouldnt have to suffer when close to death.
The choice to live should also be applied to ones choice to die, why should someone suffering
pain unimaginable be forced to live by others. At the end everyone dies, so it should not be a

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crime to want to die, it is taking our choice of life. If euthanasia was legal the patient can save
money on hospital stays and medications.
Euthanasia can spare the patient from medical bills they cannot pay for; even after they
pass their families are left with these medical expenses. It is hard enough to endure the pain of
seeing your loved one withering away in hospitals, but also of having to pay for medication that
is not even affecting the patient in anyway except making them feel worse. Most of the families
in the states with loved ones that have cancer simply cannot afford the medical expenses. In a
report done by the Kaiser Family Foundation and American Cancer Association claim that:
20,000 people who have called the American Cancer Society Health Insurance Assistance
Service because they are having trouble finding adequate and affordable health insurance or are
struggling (cancer.org/acs). There are a large amount of people that cant afford treatment
struggle to get by and health insurance does not cover even half. Not only should euthanasia be
an option for the ill but it also gives the power to the patient.
Euthanasia should be legal because it can give the power to the patient. There are many
dangerous people out there, even in hospitals, where patients are supposed to be safe. Since there
will always be those insane people out there will be extreme surveillance over documents. The
editor of Listland states: the legalization of euthanasia actually had the reverse of the
expected effect and cut the unacceptable practice of no consent euthanasia in
half(listland.com). Doctors are known to have bad intentions or lack care for the patients
wellbeing, so they will try to get rid of the unwanted because they are wasted time. With the
law being passed doctors will no longer have the power to do whatever they see is best for the
patient and instead give the power to the patient. Euthanasia is known to save lives of those who
are killed by professionals, and helps protect selfhood and dignity.

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Euthanasia should be legal because it helps protect the patients selfhood and dignity. In the
article of Listland the author states, We grow our personalities as human beings by our choices
and experiences (www.listland.com/). The way of life is to live through our life as we see best,
same should go for when we are close to death. Making choices is what people are meant to do;
it is a human instinct that has dated back to our very own ancestors, from good to bad. I have
witnessed firsthand the poor condition the elderly are living in while in retirement homes, they
cannot speak or even function as a human being anymore, most left to rot in isolation. My
mother, who is a nurse at the Jewish Home, has seen many old folk in their rooms with depressed
looks on their faces, some to never leave their rooms or see their family again. Most of these
people wanted to end their lives long ago before their illness took over control of their body. Like
these people, illness cripples the human body and they rely on medications to keep them going.
Although the medications help, the machines and constant supervision of staff can deprive the
patient from even feeling human anymore. They feel like a guinea pigs being experimented on
constantly by doctors, and have no choice but accept the fact that their fate is encased by tubes
and needles. If euthanasia were talked about more it can educate people on the many benefits it
has for patients.
Euthanasia has many benefits that many people are not aware of and if the people were
educated enough about the subject it will then be legalized. Think of all the sick patients in the
world who do not want to die in hospitals away from all their friends and family but instead in
the comfort of their own homes. The terminally ill patients are human beings that need to have
their choices understood and respected if they want to take their life in their own hands. All the
states need to legalize euthanasia for the good of humanity.

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Work Cited
Editors, Biography.com. "Jack Kevorkian Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, 23
Nov. 2015. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://www.biography.com/people/jack-kevorkian9364141#illness-and-death>.
Http://nlcatp.org/, Chief Editor. "Euthanasia Pros and Cons." NLCATPorg. N.p., 19 Dec. 2014.
Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://nlcatp.org/top-8-euthanasia-pros-and-cons/>.
Listland. "Top 10 Reasons Euthanasia Should Be Legal Everywhere." Top 10 Lists ListLandcom.
N.p., 14 Oct. 2014. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://www.listland.com/top-10-reasons-euthanasiashould-be-legal-everywhere/>.
McIntosh, Neil. "Anti-Euthanasia Arguments." BBC News. BBC, 6 Nov. 2014. Web. 23 Nov.
2015. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/against/against_1.shtml>.
Murano, Grace. "8 Most Controversial Cases of Euthanasia - ODDEE."Oddee RSS. Oddee, 08
Mar. 2015. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://www.oddee.com/item_99258.aspx>.
Schwartz, Karyn, Gary Claxton, Kristi Martin, and Christ Schmidt.SPENDING TO SURVIVE:
(2009): 1-52. Cancer.org. Kaiser Family Foundation, Feb. 2009. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@corporatecommunications/documents/document/ac
sq-017518.pdf>.