To Kill or Not to Kill? Term Paper Example

Introduction

People lose their loved ones in different situations such as road accidents, severe illness, natural disasters or terror attacks. Euthanasia or Mercy Killing is, however, a different type of death where a family intentionally decides to take the life of their loved one who has experienced a long term illness with no signs of recovery. A family can take this action to relieve itself from the burden of using more family resources to take care of the sick member who may not recover in the end.The family can also base its reason for taking the life of their loved ones on the mercy they fell for the member whom they see as suffering from an illness, thus, the term Mercy Killing. The act is usually performed by the doctor under the instruction of the family without the consent of the ill member.Euthanasia is facing prejudice from people and organizations especially organizations for human rights watch and religions.

Why Euthanasia should be kept from doctors

Saharia points out that assisted suicide is not the best help a terminally ill loved one; it is a form of murder (Saharia 1). Mercy Killing should not be encouraged at all costs because it denies one their right to life. It is a form of death that degrades the human species in which only God has the right to take its lives. I personally do not support euthanasia because everyone has a right to die and not even any person has a right to take his/her own life.The act should never be the last resort to for the doctors as people will take it as an excuse to exercise killings in the name ofeuthanasia. Doctors have been given the mandate to save human life. Going a step to take away human life is against the doctor’s code of conduct.For example, in a case where a 19year old girl is critically injured in a road accident and requires a surgerybut the circumstances reveal that with or without the surgery, the girl will still succumb.The doctor in the case will have done Mercy Killing if he/she decides not to do the surgery. The parents will have also promoted euthanasia if they entertain the doctors’ idea. The doctor could still pull through to save the girl’s life because medical miracles are not impossibilities especially with the modern technology.Pietras points out that Mercy Killing is an unlawfully act and the perpetuators should be punished to the fullest by the law (Pietras1). Incidentally, there are some people who would argue that Mercy Killing is a dignified form of death but I feel that the dignity lies in a person being able to take their own life; it should not be a choice made by anyone else but the person alone. 16% of people in the 68-85-year-old range demand a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) 54% of senior citizen in their 60s have mixed feelings about Euthanasia. No matter whose consent these people have, taking their lives are against the morals standards. Some families will tend to argue out that euthanasia can be a way of saving their loved one from pain but the decision to life solely remains an issue of nature taking its course.

Even People in Europe are Anti-Mercy Killing

Caldwell points out that Dutch people are anti-Mercy Killing because it is not just wrong but it also robs a person the right to have natural death (Caldwell 1). As previously stated, there are some people who are for Euthanasia and there are those that will defend their reason by thinking that a person’s time to die is due.  No one has the power to speculate on another person’s death be it in the case of illness or in the case of old age. At least one needs to put him/herself in the shoes of that victim of euthanasia. Silent death or even with no consultation from the patient him/herself is very painful. The patient wishes and has hope to see light one day. Why then go ahead to cut short the patient’s hopes?

Euthanasia vs. Guilt

The final reason why I am anti-Euthanasia is one of the most obvious reasons that there is guilt. It is a known fact that most people who mercy kill do not feel anything right away, but make no mistake, taking a life does something to a person. I personally believe that when someone takes someone else’s life, they feel something guilty no matter what they say or feel. Taking someone’s life does not just make a person feel guilty or even upset; it changes them and most times not for the better. Mercy Killing is by far one of the biggest and most mortifying crimes in the entire world, even if a person kills someone by mistake, they will still feel compelled to turn themselves in because the guilt is too much for them to bear. Chaturvedi and Math point out that Euthanasia can and has warranted feelings of guilt within a human being, it is not at all impossible for a person to feel bad about Mercy Killing a relative (Chaturvedi and Math 899). Normally, a person’s guilt is usually what stops them from doing things that they cannot come back from. When a person performs a Mercy Killing of another human being, they have entered a realm that they cannot come back from. This is commonly known behavior in doctors, and it is also the reason why I say they should never be given Euthanasia distributing abilities because they could abuse that power and pull the plug on whoever they want. Overall, a lot of people would argue that they cannot take the pressure of knowing that one night they will get a call from the hospital or rest home telling them that their beloved relative has died, they went peacefully however many minutes ago.This is why some believe that it is okay to sanction a doctor to do a Euthanasia because some family members cannot handle a fear of that magnitude and want to wash their hands of the situation, but the fact of the matter is that none of that is ethical justbecause the family members want relief from the fear and pressure.

But, what does the dying person get besides their remaining minutes of hours cut short; nothing except the regret of being robbed of their choice to die by their hand alone. It is good that Euthanasia is against the law, as it should be.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that the act of euthanasia is an immoral and unjustified act that denies a multitude of terminally ill patients to live up to their timely death. The diverse opinions are implying that the question about euthanasia is still rhetoric as both sides of the controversy are giving observations that favor them. As much as we want euthanasia to be abolished completely, it might be difficult to be abolished since it can occur at any level and not just a matter of the doctor’s decision. The doctor is not the only person who can carry out euthanasia as it can occur at homes. Proper legal measures should, therefore, be set to ensure that act of euthanasia is not taking place in hospitals and at domestic levels.

Works Cited

Caldwell, Simon. “Now the Dutch turns against legalised mercy killing.” Mail Online. N.p., 09 Dec 2009. Web. 8 Nov 2014. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1234295/Now-Dutch-turn-legalised-mercy-killing.html>.

Chaturvedi, Santosh, and Suresh Math. “Right to life vs. Right to die.” The Indian Journal of Medical Research. Medknow Publications, n.d. Web. 8 Nov 2014. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3612319/>.

Pietra, Emma. “Mercy Killing-how a mother suffocated her own son with a pillow to end his Huntington’s Disease suffering.” Mirror. N.p., 06 Nov 2013. Web. 8 Nov 2014. <http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/mercy-killing-heather-pratten-suffocated-2679915>.

Saharia, Sunita. “‘Euthanasia’ Mercy Killing: A Legal, Ethical and Social Dilemma.” MBASkool.com. N.p., 07 Mar 2011. Web. 8 Nov 2014. <http://www.mbaskool.com/business-articles/human-resource/203-euthanasia-mercy-killing-legal-social-ethical-dilemma.html>.