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Pros and Cons of Euthanasia

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Euthanasia is the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering and is categorized as voluntary, non-voluntary or involuntary. Assisted suicide is committed by someone with assistance from another person usually in regard to someone suffering from a severe physical illness. It is referred to as a “physician assisted suicide” when a physician provides a competent, terminally ill patient with prescription for a lethal dose of medication upon the patient’s request. Physician assisted suicide is often confused with euthanasia.
Do Not Resuscitate or “DNR” and Living Wills are legal orders that represent the wishes of a patient. A DNR states that the patient does not wish to undergo extra measures if their heart were to stop or if they were to stop breathing. A living will is also referred to as an advance health care directive, personal directive, advance directive, or advance decision. It is a set of written instructions that a person gives that specify what actions should be taken for their health, if they are no longer able to make decisions due to illness or incapacity.
A DNR, Living Wills and various medical proxy documentations are legal when it comes to medical treatment decisions and the end of life. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are prohibited in most countries worldwide. Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands appear to be the only countries where both euthanasia and physician assisted suicide have been made legal, but only beginning in 2001-2008. There are only four states in the U.S. (Oregon, Vermont, Montana and Washington) where physician assisted suicide is legal.
My belief is that terminally ill people should have a choice when it comes to euthanasia and/or physician assisted suicide. As humans, most do not like to see others suffer with pain and hopelessness. If it is legal for us to end the life when an animal is suffering with pain with no chance of recovery, why should it be any different for humans, if that is their wish? If I was terminally ill and new that the end was going to be long-suffering, I would want the choice to legally end my life rather than endure the pain and suffering to the end. I think that criteria’s need to be established and met for legalization, but that it should be legalized.

Pence, Gregory E., Medical ethics: accounts of ground-breaking cases. 6th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
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