Euthanasia

3 Pages 688 Words

Euthanasia is often called “mercy killing”. It is intentionally making someone die, rather than allowing that person to die naturally. It is sometimes the act of ending someone’s life, who is terminally ill, or is suffering in severe pain. Euthanasia is mostly illegal in the world today. Euthanasia can be considered a form of suicide, if the person afflicted with the problem actively does it. The person volunteering to commit the act to that person can also consider it a form of murder.
The negative side of euthanasia is that it goes against natural law ethics, because we do not let nature take its course. We are disturbing what is occurring or happening naturally to the person. Every person has a natural inclination to continue living. It is also said that euthanasia denies us the dignity of dying like human beings.
If euthanasia were to become legal, it would form a downward spiral of society. For example, euthanasia would be self-inflicted by the individual, and then it would be administered and inflicted by others. Then others who simply have knowledge of the situation would administer the euthanasia. Finally, anyone would have an involvement in the euthanasia process making a decision to end a person’s existence. If a person’s life is deemed less valuable than another’s life, then euthanasia may rage out of control. People simply deemed unworthy or invaluable of living would be extinguished, and that may lead to genocide.
Euthanasia goes against the six prima facie duties. There can be no duty of self-improvement if you prematurely end you existence. By not allowing yourself to die naturally, you deny yourself the final stages of growth in the dying process – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Dr. Kubler-Ross, a psychiatrist, says that patients grow in the final stages, and finish all unfinished business. To administer euthanasia would deny a person this growth needed.
Suicide is a tragic, ...