The Case for Legalizing Voluntary Euthanasia

Imagine that you lying in a sterile hospital room, hooked up to machines and tubes, wracked with pain, and riddled with an incurable disease. Imagine that you have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and every day you are aware that you are slipping a little more into dementia, soon to be a shell of your former shell and a financial, emotional, and physical burden on your closest loved ones. Is this how any of us want to imagine the end of our lives? I think I'm safe to say no, no one wants to die this way but it's a reality for thousands of people every day.

Western civilization is fundamentally based on the right to life and the right to quality of life but this right does not extend to the one life stage that all of us will eventually enter, death. We can choose how to live our lives, where we live, what religion we want, the person we want to marry, the schools where we send our children, and our jobs. We are granted the freedom to choose almost every aspect of our existence except how we will die.

According to Wikipedia, the word euthanasia is derived from the Greek words "eu" and "thanatos" which combined means "well death" or "dying well." The Greeks and Roman had no qualms regarding suicide, tolerating the taking of one's life in the event of illness although as can be seen in the Hippocratic Oath, medically assisting someone was not tolerated.

In Western society, suicide became illegal during the Middle Ages, it wasn't until the last century with the advent of anesthesia that the debate regarding euthanasia began; gaining momentum especially during the 1930s. Following the horrors of the Nazi death camps during World War II, euthanasia was outlawed in almost every civilized country to avoid a repeat of the mass extermination of people at the hands of government. Public sentiment began to shift in the 1970s with the advancements in medicine which allowed doctors the ability to prolong life indefinitely.

The right to die movement was spearheaded in the United States by the case of Karen Ann Quinlan, a young woman in a vegetative state whose family won a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling allowing her to be taken off life support. In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized non-aggressive euthanasia. In 1994, the voters of the State of Oregon approved the Death with Dignity Act which allows doctors to medically supervise and assist in the death of terminally ill patients with six months or less to live. The federal government has repeatedly attempted to overturn the Oregon law while the controversy surrounding the legalization of voluntary euthanasia continues to grow.

Opponents of the legalization of euthanasia base most of their objections on moral and religious grounds. Many believe that it is morally wrong to take a life, any life, even if it's your own and legalized euthanasia would only serve to weaken society's view on the sanctity of life. Proponents argue that humans have the freedom of choice in our society and that should include the freedom to choose death with dignity. It also is argued as a human rights issue, that by denying us the right to choose how and when to end our lives in the event of an incurable diagnosis, the government is denying the individual rights over his own body.

Quoting an article in the periodical The Independent, the BBC sums up the proponent view, "In...cases where there are no dependants who might exert pressure one way or the other, the right of the individual to choose should be paramount. So long as the patient is lucid, and his or her intent is clear beyond doubt, there need be no further questions."

Religious objections to euthanasia are based on the concept that human life was a gift from God thus it is sacred and it would be a sin to end it prematurely. This is often the same argument used in the abortion issue.

Legalization does not force anyone to have an abortion against their religious beliefs, it simply ensures their legal right to choose; the same would apply to voluntary euthanasia. The current law in Oregon allows a capable adult who has been diagnosed by a licensed medical doctor with an incurable illness and with less than six months to live the right to request a lethal dose of medication to end his life. Doctors are allowed to participate voluntarily and they are protected from prosecution.

In today's medical world, people have the right to be told of their illness, the right to choose treatments, the right to medical care in case of emergency, the right to attempt to prolong their lives, and the right to choose what will be done with their remains. However, we are denied the right to die with dignity. It is an event which all of us will face yet it the one event in which our choices are dictated by the medical profession and the government. Legalizing voluntary euthanasia is a humane and moral extension of our basic human rights.

"Euthanasia." Wikipedia. 14 February 2008. 16 February 2008. .

"Religion & Ethics." BBC. 16 February 2008. .