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Why Euthanasia Is Wrong and Should Not Be Legalized

In: Social Issues

Submitted By lrochelle40
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“Why Euthanasia is Wrong and Should Not be Legalized” Euthanasia involves killing the patient to eliminate the pain, while normal end-of-life care involves eliminating the pain so that the patient can die painlessly, from natural causes such as disease or old age. Nobody is against eliminating the pain when a patient is dying, but everyone should be against killing the patient as a means of eliminating pain. Ending a patient’s life is not a humane solution to tragic situations of pain and suffering. A physician’s duty is always to kill the pain, not the patient. Proposing euthanasia shows a lack of confidence in the progress of medical science. There are no limits forced on the physician’s means of relieving pain. The means are many, accessible, increasingly sophisticated and constantly developing. In extreme cases, heavy sedation that puts patients to sleep can even be a last resort to sustain them through their suffering, until death takes place from natural causes. In treating terminal cases, there are no obstacles to ending or foregoing treatments considered useless or disproportionate by the patient or the physician. There is always a way out, even in the most complex cases. There are no taboo issues about death in the medical profession. The questioning of life-prolonging treatment, the withdrawal of useless or disproportionate treatment and the refusal of treatment by autonomous patients are daily events in clinical practice, addressed calmly and openly by practicing physicians and in training programs. Doctors clearly understand the line between pain relief and euthanasia. With that being said, giving patients the right to die means giving doctors the right to kill. Decriminalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide depends entirely on the participation of the medical profession. Ultimately, it is doctors who are asked to decide whether it makes more sense

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