Euthanasia 

A research question is aroused that Should Euthanasia be considered a justly end to human discomfort or amoral criminal act? What are pros and cons of committing Euthanasia? Is it right for the civilized society to allow the human beings to die by their own will? There is hot debate on this issue as its proponents and opponents giving valid arguments for legitimacy of this is Euthanasia is the practice of painlessly serving a fatally ailing individual to pass away.      Recognized also as assisted suicide or mercy killing, euthanasia is prohibited for human beings in the United States. Normally, euthanasia is presented by deadly vaccination, using the similar drugs as those on death chain are carried out. Hippocrates, the father of contemporary medicine, avowed in 400 B.C., in the present day, doctors are still pursued by this oath. (What is Euthanasia, 2010).“I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel (What is Euthanasia, 2010).”

                   The first act, or bill, endorsed in America was written in the books in 1828 in New York.

“Like abortion, the debate about assisted suicide is a heated one. Many argue that quality of life is an issue, while those on the other side believe life must be preserved at all costs. The arguments from both sides are of both moral and legal ramifications (What is Euthanasia, 2010).”

           Supporters of assisted suicide or Euthanasia consider that the church and state have no legal authority to impede with an individualistic right to end one’s life. Opponents have another opinion about this assisted suicide that nobody but God has the power to decide when an individual is to pass away. The Hemlock Society is voiced in their faith that euthanasia should be allowable, particularly if the patient has desired for it. A number of religious scholars and medical experts are opponents regarding the matter of euthanasia on moral and political grounds (What is Euthanasia, 2010).

          Euthanasia stands for mercy killing in broader sense, taking the life of a desperately ailing person or injured person so that there may be end of his or her afflictions. Mercy-killing signifies a severe ethical dilemma. People do not all the time pass away well. Some sufferings tend people to undergo through acute physical pain in their preceding days of life, and euthanasia may look as if a sympathetic mode of terminating this pain. Other patients may appeal euthanasia to stay away from the infirmities and loss of rational talents that some syndromes cause, and several think these desires should be valued (Euthanasia | Introduction, 2010).

         But euthanasia has also contradictory influences due to the most fundamental moral values, which is that assassination is immoral. According to conventional Judeo-Christian viewpoints euthanasia is murder and a obvious infringement of the biblical directive, don’t kill yourself. From a worldly viewpoint, one of the chief objectives of law is to espouse the sacredness of human existence (Euthanasia | Introduction, 2010).

“Euthanasia is so controversial because it pits the plight of suffering, dying individuals against religious beliefs, legal tradition, and, in the case of physician-assisted death, medical ethics (Euthanasia | Introduction, 2010).”

                                                                    It's About Mercy !

The amoral consequence of the euthanasia epidemic is sweeping into the ears of politicians and governmental actions. However, advocating legally assisted-suicide might be a boundary that should not be trespassed. This is due to human beings’ inherent dignity. According to United Nation Universal Declaration of Human Rights, dignity is the first and foremost right of any individual. If a person is killed, he or she is then objectified and the sanctity of life violated. It is precisely this dehumanizing aspect of euthanasia that makes it so controversial. Our very societies are built on value systems venerating heroism, courage, sacrifice and martyrs. People as Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, and Aung San Suu Kyi are idolized because they have endured pain just as Christ himself when he was crucified. Therefore, euthanasia is widely rejected as accepting pain is at times an essential feature denoting strength in a person. Decriminalizing euthanasia would be synonymous to subverting our value system into weakness and cowardice.

Nowadays, there are even countries reckoned for death tourism. In Switzerland, there are approximately 400 assisted suicide cases per annum and of which around 130 of them are from abroad. Assisted suicide has been allowed in the country since the 1940s, by people who do not have a vested interest in the death. Until now in Europe only Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherland allows euthanasia. In United States it is only the state of Oregon, which supports it. Moreover, death tourism is stirring a negative image on Switzerland and the government is enforcing laws to minimize the effect. They are trying to avoid assisted-suicide to become a profit-driven business. Already many have enrolled to right-to-die organizations like the Swiss group Dignitas. Many of the legal suicide conducted lack sufficient documentation to assure that euthanasia is the sole recourse. It is also practically wrong that people who are in a terminal illness have to travel across thousands of miles away from their homecountry for the sake of a peaceful death. Holiday euthanasia is the last vacation a person ever does but the government in Switzerland is trying to set a stop by establishing restrictions on the duration of how many months one has to stay in the country to be eligible.

Death tourism is one aspect promoting euthanasia, individuals and organizations are making it public. There are individuals who are currently coined as Dr. Death, be it in America, Australia or any other parts of the world. In Australia, we have Dr. Philip Nitschke, who is the founder of a pro-euthanasia group namely Exit International. He was also the first doctor to administer a legal and voluntary lethal injection. Exit international has developed several approaches for death. For instance, the exit bag and CoGen is one. The CoGen device generates carbon monoxide to fill the exit bag, which is placed in a manner that you will inhale the gas. Another, advance apparatus is the Exit euthanasia device that uses conventional barbecue gas bottles that contain nitrogen, adhesive tape, plastic suicide bags and some plastic tubing. Nitschke considered this method as being “flawless”. When pure nitrogen is inhaled by an individual, he or she will immediately, (12 seconds) lose consciousness and depart in a few minutes.

In America, we have Jack Kevorkian who was coined as “Dr. Death” due to his assistant to people who committed suicide. It was in 1990, that Kevorkian was involved in his first physician-assisted suicide of a patient suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in the state of Oregon. He was charged for murder but the case was dismissed to ambiguity in the Michigan law. Now, he has assisted many hundred suicides. He was condemned by the Michigan law in March 26, 1999 of second-degree murder and released on parole in June 1, 2006. In most of the cases, homemade devices or intravenous chemicals were injected to conduct the assisted suicide. Moreover, he is known for saying that “dying is not a crime”. Yet, he agrees that administrating death can become abusive or be wrongly used. For instance, someone might be administrating death but might later regr

French Woman Who Sought Euthanasia Dies

                             

   PARIS  —  A woman who suffered from a painful facial tumor and had drawn headlines across France with her quest for doctor-assisted suicide was found dead Wednesday, an official said.

Chantal Sebire, a former schoolteacher and mother of three, was found at her home in the eastern French town of Plombieres-les-Dijon, a government official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The circumstances of her death were not immediately clear. Sebire, 52, was diagnosed nearly eight years ago with esthesioneuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer.

The illness left her blind, and with no sense of smell or taste, her lawyer said. She could not use morphine to ease the intense eye pain because of the side effects.

On Monday, a court in the city of Dijon rejected Sebire's request to be allowed to receive a lethal dose of barbiturates under a doctor's supervision.

It refused the request for doctor-assisted suicide because of French law and out of concern for medical ethics.

Sebire's case revived a debate in France about the right to die. She received national attention after the media published heartbreaking before-and-after pictures that made her suffering instantly apparent.

The tumor had burrowed through her sinuses and nasal cavities, causing her nose to swell to several times its original size, and pushing one of her eyes out of her head.

Unlike in France, euthanasia is legal in both Belgium and the Netherlands, and Luxembourg is in the process of passing a law to allow it. In Switzerland, counselors or physicians can prepare the lethal dose, but patients must take it on their own.

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