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Euthanasia
Sydney Varnon
Comp II
2/26/2014










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Imagine, that you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness that is progressing daily. It
is now getting harder to get out of bed, to feed yourself, or to even bathe yourself without
assistance. Every day you have to have someone help you do even the most basic of things, and
you are beginning to feel extreme physical pain that not even prescribed medication can help
alleviate. You know you will die soon, you just want it all to end, so what do you do? Would it
be wrong to ask your doctor to end your suffering and to let you die with dignity? Or is that
going too far?
Euthanasia is defined as the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly
sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy (Merriam-Webster,
n.d.). While this is a complex subject that is clearly controversial, I believe under certain
conditions that people should have the right to decide whether they want to have their own lives
ended or not.
By not having euthanasia legalized in the United States, we are putting an unnecessary
restraint on the rights of human beings who are needlessly suffering. These are individuals
whose quality of life is being compromised on a daily basis by things such as paralysis, difficulty
with breathing, or incontinence. In a Gallup Poll it was estimated that approximately 55 percent
of terminally ill patients die in pain (Statistic Brain RSS. N.p.). When giving these patients
control over when their lives will end, it takes away a lot of fear, uncertainty, and worry. The
legalization of PAS would help the patient to die under controlled conditions at the time of their
choosing.
The biggest argument against the method of euthanasia is that once it is done, it cannot be
undone. People argue that once the patients are gone, it will never be determined if they could
have had a miraculous recovery that wouldve allowed them the chance to live out a full and
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healthy lives. The reality is, however, that euthanasia is solely for those who are terminally ill
with no hope of recovery. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, a Dutch report on
euthanasia found that in 86 percent of cases where euthanasia was used on a terminally ill
patient, it shortened their life by only one week, and in the majority of cases by just a few hours.
Therefore euthanasia does not shorten life, but merely expedites the inevitable (U.S. National
Library of Medicine, n.d.).
Another reason that euthanasia should be legalized is that the alternative can be much
worse. Those who are suffering with no hope of improvement will sometimes go to extreme
lengths to sooner end their painful existence. Without the option of euthanasia we are refusing
people the right to end their own lives, and increasing their pain and indignity. People have
tried to not only kill themselves, but have even asked loved ones to help them do so to help end
their suffering. Obviously this is very much illegal, and if caught their loved one would face
prosecution. An example of this is described in an article in The Telegraph, it describes the
experience of a 58-year-old man who was denied assisted suicide by the courts. This man had
locked in syndrome, making it impossible for him to move. The only alternative he had when
making the decision to end his own life was to refuse food. He suffered for a week before he
finally died from pneumonia and starvation (Bingham, John. The Telegraph. N.p.). This painful
and undignified way of dying could have been avoided if the method of euthanasia had not been
denied to him by the courts. But without it there will always be those seeking to end their
suffering, and will go to any lengths to stop it. Euthanasia could be very beneficial to the United
States with the right regulations and standards. In the end it would have positive effects on the
economy, it would improve the quality of life, and it would end horrific alternatives.

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Works Cited

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Bingham, John. "Tony Nicklinson Dies Saying: Goodbye World, the Time Has Come. I Had

Some Fun." The Telegraph. N.p., 22 Aug. 2012. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.

"Economic Aspects of Euthanasia." Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2014

"Euthanasia." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.

"Euthanasia Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2014.

"Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of
Medicine, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2014.