During my final year of highschool I consider English as my funnest subject. I had the best teacher at the time, and she was like super chill as long as we stay on a good behavior and do our work. So I took advantage of the situation and make my assignments during the year the least serious I could be by coming up with ridiculous topics. I remembered my friends doing presentations on topics of science, like real science biology and diseases and brain and stuff while I made a presentation on chocolate. Well it was about how chocolate makes you happy, it supposedly make your brain produces more serotonin and stuffs and also contrary to popular beliefs, it does not make you fat (the dark one — if you consume it normally).
So for my final assignment we were supposed to make an argumentative speech about certain topics. I kind of forgot what the choices were but being the extra pupil I was, I covered a euthanasia topic — in which I was pro euthanasia. This was the draft for the speech with a few alterations and fact check. But let me begin by asking you a question, what do you think of euthanasia?
Now I want you to answer truthfully according to your self-consciousness. Some of you may support euthanasia, while some of you may not. What I’m going to do here is to convince you that euthanasia should be allowed as an option in the medical world.
First of all let me start by explaining what euthanasia means. Euthanasia’s definition, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is the act of killing someone who is very ill or very old so that they do not suffer any more. The practice of euthanasia is illegal in most countries, like Indonesia. It is forbidden by the law of God (religiously, mostly) and also human (literal law). However, as of November 2017, there are few that legalized it, such as Switzerland, Japan, Belgium, and Netherlands.
During the last century, the medical community has advanced incredibly. Despite that, there are still a lot of sickness that not only cannot be cured at present, but also cause incredible suffering to people who have them. It can be a virus, a rare brain disease, an accident, a lot of possibility of incurable diseases. Patients with such diseases might want to ask for euthanasia, as living can be worse than death. But laws of different countries treat euthanasia as something immoral and illegal, which is not necessarily right. Here in medical world everyday is a constant battle on moral vs law, but we as a medical staffs stood by our principal on curing people and making them feel better no matter what it costs us.
For something to be immoral, it would have to violate moral laws or norms. In which we don’t have explicitly. In cases where it is a choice between suffering or death, it can be argued that doctors are doing more harm to the patient by not allowing them to die. It can cause a financial problem or even a psychological problem.
Secondly, terminally sick people who are suffering should be granted the right to euthanasia. Suffering as in a vegetative state, which is a deeper condition than a coma. Vegetative state may last for years, and it cannot be cured.
For example, the case of Aruna Shanbaug. She was an Indian nurse who was the center of attention in a court case on euthanasia after spending 42 years in vegetative state as a result of sexual assault. A plea for her being euthanized was issued back in January 2011 by a relative and was rejected by the court in March 2011. She eventually died from pneumonia in May 2015. This woman has never received justice, especially since her abuser did not get convicted of rape and sexual molestation. Her case might be the one that changes India’s law on euthanasia. With that being said, there is not a single person who deserves to suffer for more than a year, let alone forty.
Euthanasia is advantageous in many more ways than disadvantageous. It can help a patient in numerous ways such as stopping the suffering due to the illness and cause death to come sooner and thus saves a lot of money, heartache, and pain. I am well aware that there are nearly no one that is prepared to say goodbye forever to their loved ones, but euthanasia gives you a closure on how much time you have left with the patients. Life is hard to live with terminal illness, in many cases death seems to be the better answer.
Euthanasia is not murder; it is more like bringing patient’s inevitable death closer. According to the 2009 Statistics from Switzerland, there are almost a 700% increase in assisted suicide deaths of Swiss residents. Patients usually ask for euthanasia a maximum of one week before they would die. If a patient wants to die, and the condition is truly hopeless; relatives, doctors, and law should not prevent them from doing so. Everyone has a right to a good death as it is to have a good life.
In the end, death is an option for those who are suffering and do not see life as an option any longer. Many see it as inhumane or religiously wrong, but since God’s will can never be known, we must see it from the eyes of the patient. Due to these reasons, euthanasia should be allowed.
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disclaimer: I wasn’t sure about all of the research source I was doing at the time, I’ve learned better now so forgive me and don’t take this super seriously I was happy to share a writing on this topic that may or may not be inspired by Me Before You.
