Euthanasia Should Not be Legalized
"It is conceivable, that life can deteriorate to the point where
persons lose their dignity and self-respect and are unable to communicate;
life in such a form no longer meets meets the basic criteria of human-
ness." (O'Keefe, A1) Under these circumstances only should Euthanasia be
practiced and then only passively ("pulling the plug"). "Dutch Death",
Euthanasia, doctor assisted suicide, whatever you want to call it, it
should not be legalized.
People should live their lives for as long as long as it is worth
living. As long as someone can still have experiences and communicate with
others, they should go on living. Someone may have six months to live and
decides to end their life rematurely, saying that they are going to die
anyway, why bother with waiting. It is the same with anyone. Everyone will
eventually die, so why doesn't every one just kill themselves now? It is
because there are things they want to do and see, there is life they still
have yet to experience. The same thing is true for a terminably ill person,
they could do alot in that six months. They write an autobiography or a
novel, do a lot of reading or traveling, who knows? It has been said that
trials and pain make us stronger. Even if someone is in pain, that pain
could make them mentally stronger than if they give up and take the easy
way out. Life is pain, everyone goes through pain in their lives, but most
stick it out to the end, not giving up taking the easy way out. As long as
a person still is able to know what is happening around them and can
interact with the world around them it should be illegal for doctors to aid
in their suicide.
"Some say that doctor-aided death is widespread already, only
covertly, and that the Netherlands is a model of how to establish the right
to die by bringing the practice out in the open, where the medical and
legal system can oversee it. (O'Keefe, A1+)" This issue is compared to how
abortion was before it was legalized. "The main reason for legalization of
abortion was because it was being done anyway. People HAD access to
abortion, it was just being done terribly. We're in exactly the same
situation today: People do have access to assisted suicide--it's just
being done so badly. ...
