Euthanasia is defined as the procedure when “someone other than the 'patient'—a doctor, nurse or someone else—performs an action, such as a lethal injection, which brings about death” (Glover). Assisted-suicide occurs when an individual, usually a doctor, enlists the aid to end one’s own life, without participating in the killing directly (Glover). However, pulling out the plug of a life sustaining machine or refuse treatment is not considered physician-assisted suicide and it is legal in most states, since it is perceived as allowing nature to take its course (Oregon Right to Life). Euthanasia and whether one has the right to provide any assistance to help another individual end their life has been a highly controversial subject in recent years. For many, euthanasia is ethically justified; however, legalizing physician-assisted suicide can unleash or promote hidden and dark aspects of society, where life is perceived as an endless burden and is not worth living. For that reason, among numerous others that will be further analyzed throughout this paper, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide have no moral justification in the light of medical science, or any other, and should be kept illegal.
Starting from the religious side, euthanasia is strictly opposed to any biblical and Church teaching. Each human life is intrinsically good and sacred, regardless of the physical or mental condition of an individual (McManaman). The Creator has revealed His will to mankind, according to which no human being should perform any killing action, either towards another human being or themselves. Apart from Christianity, there are no religious worldviews that question the sanctity of life and the moral obligation each individual has to seek for spiritual wellbeing. Nevertheless, those that have embraced a more liberal and secular worldviews are very frequently seen struggling to sustain them (Glover). According to the Bible, though, there must be a greater good of the community, opposed to secular liberal perceptions that focus on the rights of individuals (Glover), which wins out everything. Job for instance, the biblical figure, was assailed by major misfortunes; yet, he did not choose ending his life over them, even though there were times when the burden was so unbearable to him that made him question God and his faith to Him (Kaplan et.al). Of course, there are people that take any misfortune as a sign from God that urges them to take some kind of action (Kaplan et.al). They conceive their mishaps as a token of being given permission to commit suicide and end their lives, as a means to avoid further suffering (Kaplan et.al), which is similar to a soldier deserting in the middle of a battle. God is the only one who can give or take a life, and He tests the faith of those believing in Him, by sending some misfortunes, which has nothing to do with sending them a divine signal that it is time to depart from this world. It is interesting to note at this point that studies have reported that non-religious or non-God-oriented individuals tend to show increased tendency to depression and greater demoralization that eventually leads them to being more willing to commit suicide, compared to religious individuals (Kaplan et al.). The same study indicates that men are more susceptible to considering ending their life, than women and they have lower self-esteem too, although they showed less depression compared to women (Kaplan et.al). So, it comes naturally that those that believe in God, are less likely to make a decision to end their life. Perhaps this is like that because people need hope, as will be further analyzed later on throughout this paper. Believing in a higher power gives them hope and strength to cope with anything that will block their walk on Earth.
Assisted-suicide is considered a patient’s cry for help, who many people claim has the right to decide for their life and judge whether it is qualitative enough to keep on living; however, having suicidal urges could as well be a sign of depression (Glover). Based on solid evidence, 24 percent of patients asking for euthanasia were actually experiencing clinical depression (Glover). Moreover, suicidal intent is just a temporary state and pain experienced by patients can indeed be controlled and limited with new generation of medication and interventions. Less than 4 percent insist on killing themselves and commit suicide in the next five years, while fewer than 11 percent eventually kill themselves in a time span of 35 years (Glover). All the patient needs is probably proper counselling and positive alternatives to ending their life. What is more, palliative care is surprisingly effective nowadays in relieving from pain, since it can help control pain in 95 percent of cases, when pain can be reduced to a level that is tolerable in 5 percent of cases (Glover). All it takes is a specialized and knowledgeable doctor to optimize palliative treatments.
Legalizing voluntary euthanasia would also provide a platform for involuntary euthanasia to take place. A loud example is The Netherlands, where assisted suicide is legalized for patients with fatal illness. It seems that involuntary euthanasia is also an option provided for those that have no terminal illness, and it has become a favored option for those with mental disorders and permanent disabilities. (Glover). The frightening thing is that legalizing euthanasia has cultivated a death-culture that even the old aged ones prefer. (Glover).
What is more, assisted suicide is dangerous, given that the safeguards built into the law that legalizes euthanasia are simply ineffective (Oregon Right to Life). Attempting to restrict assisted suicide is just illusionary, because, according to the federal judge in Lee v. Oregon case, if assisted suicide is legalized, it should be legalized for everybody and not just those with terminal illness (Oregon Right to Life). The New York Task Force wrote “No matter how carefully any guidelines are framed, assisted suicide and euthanasia will be practiced through the prism of social inequality and bias that characterizes the delivery of services in all segments of all society, including health care” (Oregon Right to Life), referring to the unprivileged ones, like the poor, those disabled from neglect, abuse or any other reason and the elderly individuals.
Healthcare costs that keep rising can as well provide the reason why some individuals might opt in for assisted suicide and euthanasia (Oregon Right to Life), which might create a domino of suicidal intentions. Such can be seen if one takes a look at the legislature around the country. In some states, like Oregon, assistant suicide is not only legalized, but forwarded by numerous ways. The Oregon Health Plan presents great difficulties covering patients’ prescriptions; yet, it covered the medication that assisted suicide would need (Marker). The Oregon Death with Dignity Act literally transformed assisted suicide and turned it from crime to “medical treatment” about a decade ago, and doctors prescribe lethal drug overdoses with proper instructions, like “take it with a light snack and alcohol to cause death” (Marker), which of course makes committing suicide so easy and perfectly legal. To a great extent, those that are least able to afford the high cost of medical care, like the aged ones and those stricken by poverty seriously consider euthanasia, which is the core stimulus in the Patient Self-Determination Act (Worsnop). However, if societies end up throwing their weakest to the Kaiada, just like ancient Spartan did to their sick or disabled infants as a means to create a nation of strong warriors and competent individuals, then what distinguishes mankind from lower-level self-centered human being that have no morals and no ethics. Claims like the director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, who believes that “assisted dying could help control health care spending” (Worsnop), are simply preposterous and should not come out of the mouths of people in authority, who admittedly have the power to influence others in high places. It is absurd to estimate the cost of providing the elderly with health care and say that things will only get worse in the future, judging by the rapid increase of the number of very old citizens in the last couple of years (Worsnop). Many claim that assisted suicide should be legalized for elderly people, because they used to die at home and they now die mostly in hospitals, raising Medicaid costs, which is sheer irrationality. Such concepts cannot be found even in the animal kingdom. No animal species leaves their sick or helpless behind and even those species where the males tend to eat the baby animals, there is always their mothers looking out for them. If we cannot behave like humans, then it might be best to exemplify by animals.
Depriving patients of hope should be banished. Legalizing assisted suicide simply allows euthanasia to be wide spread and opens patients to exploitation by other people, either relatives or professionals, while devaluing the life of the vulnerable ones (Karaim). Undeniably, people are nurtured by hope and hope is what keeps them alive and going. When things go wrong, one turns up inside to find the strength to move on and confront all hazards, and that strength fees on hope. By taking hope away from people is like leaving them soulless and prone to any other individual that would want to take advantage of them. An emotionally wrecked person has little to no self-esteem and control of their life, which makes them an easy prey for the vultures longing to sell their killing suicide-assisting machines or those bearing Hitler-like concepts of creating a world where only the best and strongest have a place in it.
A physician’s role is that of a healer and not vice versa. When medical students eventually graduate and have fulfilled all their academic responsibilities, they give the Hippocratic Oath, which comprises the “bible” of what makes a doctor. One of the principals doctors pledge themselves to includes the following prohibition: ““I will never give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect” (Karaim). U.S medical students, fortunately, still swear to the Hippocratic Oath as it was meant to be. Unfortunately, most medical schools have adopted a new modernized version of the Oath that dates back to the 4th century B.C (Karaim), where the aforementioned prohibition is simply wiped out, allowing those that were meant to be healers to become assistants in murder. That being said, the American Medical Association code of ethics still holds strong to the principals that define the pure essence of what it means to be a doctor, and reject the idea of doctors providing any kind of help to assist in a patient’s death, by prescribing lethal medication or any other way (Karaim). According to their code, physician-assisted suicide is highly likely to cause crucial societal risks, since it is perceived to be extremely difficult or impossible to control (Karaim). Disabled-rights activists insist on doctors doing the best they can to provide their patients a good life, rather than a good death.
In a world where everything seems to be purchasable, there are people that even merchandize death, just like drug dealers do outside school yards and places where lots of young people hang around. A physician in Michigan has even constructed his very own suicide machines, the “Mercitrons” as he calls them (Worsnop) and assists patients end their lives by hooking up to that machine that is supposed to provide “Mercy”, judged by its name. Also, according to the findings of a notable study, when people were asked to state their opinion on the so-called “Suicide Pill”, an overwhelming majority was immediately concerned and rather skeptical, if not strongly opposed to it from the beginning. The fact that one could as well take that pill in small misfortunes, when something goes wrong in their life, out of despair or temporary depression, caused great controversy in whether the pill was indeed a good idea that assisting people living and ending their life with “dignity” as they call it (Rurup et.al). Again, religious individuals appeared more opposed to using a suicide pill to end their lives, while the relatives of patients that died after assisted-suicide or euthanasia were against taking the suicide pill or consider taking it in any occasion (Rurup et.al). Among the small minority of 15 percent of the general population that agrees with a suicide pill becoming available, people of older ages and those that had no children were more willing to take the Suicide Pill and die (Rurup et.al). For once more, it becomes extremely obvious event to the most narrow-minded ones that whenever hope is missing, people feel helpless and their lives seem meaningful. That is probably the reason why assisted suicide, suicide pills and “Mercitrons” have strong followers. If someone sheds some hope inside them and let them know that life is full of ups and downs and we cannot just quit when things look messy or hard, because there is always a new sunrise that is awaiting, people would feel more relieved and strong to fight their troubles. And each new day, is a new beginning and a new chance to do better than yesterday. If people understand that, the world will not need any physician to help them put an end to a “miserable” life, because life will simply not be miserable any more.
Most people in favor of euthanasia and assisted suicide usually describe their everyday life as a “serious burden”, which in most cases refers to the patient’s condition and not the medical treatment they receive (McManaman). Taking that into consideration, how it could be justified to allow an individual end their life in order to escape and find relief from a burdensome living? If we allow a patient to freely die to find elusive a life that is burdened, it is as if we are using evil to achieve good (McManaman), if giving permission to one to end their life is actually doing any good to them. A doctor’s obligation is to care for their patients, for their patients’ sake and not theirs, make them feel comfortable, do the necessary to reduce their pain, under any circumstance, even if pain management has undesirable side effects, such as shortening a patient’s life (McManaman). No one should eliminate the pain, by deliberately eliminating the patient (McManaman).
Assisted suicide or euthanasia are both methods that assist an individual end their life. The people that opt in for assisted suicide are mainly the elderly, the disabled and those with a fatal disease or with great suffering from excessive pain. No matter how justified some may consider assisted suicide, it still is and will remain a “suicide”. No one has the right to end their life and it is no wonder that the great majority of people wanting to put an end in their life are non-religious. It seems that non-religious individuals lack hope, which is an important preventive factor to killing one self. Being left feeling helpless and hopeless makes people extremely prone to those that have dark intentions and want to take advantage from other people’s suffering and mental condition, in order to sell their products, like machines to assist suicide or suicide pills. However, in a world where humans face difficulties every day, even as we speak, it comes naturally that sometimes mood switches and negative thoughts overwhelm those burdened with a medical or health condition. Most of times when an individual asks for assisted suicide, simply needs proper counselling and mental health aid from clinicians. Anyway, the reason why doctors are offering their services is to help to patients. Doctors have taken the Hippocratic Oath and swore to live their professional life towards helping their patients to live and not to die, regardless of the type of medical condition.
Fortunately, new generation medication help control and relieve pain. On the other hand, there are no safeguards and there is no assurance that assisted suicide will not go overboard and include not only the terminally ill ones, but other categories of people, like the poor and elder. All in all, assisted suicide can never be regarded as anything else than sheer criminal activity, since each one of us has the right to live and those sworn to heal, should only act as healer, rather than death executors.
Works Cited
Glover, Peter C. "Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Unethical." Ethics. Ed. Laurie DiMauro and Tina Grant. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Euthanasia: Can It Ever Be Right to Legalise It?" Catholic Insight 17 (Feb. 2009): 8-9. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 28 Aug. 2013.
Oregon Right to Life. "Oregon's Assisted Suicide Experience: Safeguards Do Not Work." Euthanasia. Ed. Carrie Snyder. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Oregon's Assisted Suicide Experience: Safeguards Don't Work." 2005. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 28 Aug. 2013.
Marker, Rita. "Right-to-Die Laws Do Present a Slippery Slope." The Right to Die. Ed. John Woodward. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2006. At Issue. Rpt. from "Oregon's Suicidal Approach to Healthcare." American Thinker. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 28 Aug. 2013.
McManaman, Doug. "Active Euthanasia Is Never Morally Justified." Assisted Suicide. Ed. Noël Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Current Controversies. Rpt. from "Euthanasia and the Sanctity of Life." Catholic Insight (Mar. 2010): 24-25. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 29 Aug. 2013.
Karaim, Reed. "Assisted Suicide." CQ Researcher 17 May 2013: 449-72. Web. 29 Aug. 2013.
Worsnop, Richard L. "Assisted Suicide." CQ Researcher 21 Feb. 1992: 145-68. Web. 29 Aug. 2013.
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