Euthanasia

by Sophie Gale

If you were in such a pain crippling state, and nothing could be done to help you, would you want to be euthanized? There are many ways to look at the morals of euthanasia and whether it should be legal. Is it murder? Or is it a kind act to put one out of their misery?

The problem is, is that who gets to decide whether you are euthanised or you are kept alive? Allowing euthanasia allows someone else to take control of your life, when really it’s yours to live. It gives doctors power to take something from you which can’t be replaced. It even can be dangerous for the doctors because they could have lawsuits filed against them from mourning family’s, and their protection is our responsibility too. Almost all pain can be controlled and relieved so why should something so precious such as a life be taken away because of something that can be controlled. Pain distorts the views of the victim meaning that if the pain is stopped, they will want to live again so taking sometimes life when they have hope of a good and full future, it just wrong.

On the subject of control, we can never fully control the euthanasia itself because there is always someone in charge who can enforce it. In the Netherlands, where euthanasia is legal, it has been shown that doctors don’t always reveal when someone has been euthanized, leaving space for corruption. 47% of assisted deaths go unreported in the Flanders region of Belgium showing that, you, the one the life is being stripped away from, have no control. 37% of assisted deaths in Belgium are carried out without any form of request, none of which, were questioned when, murder has been committed as  someone has been killed without knowing if the victim wants it. How can we, you, us , allow this cruel and brutal murder to take place under our laws and regulations of our country.

Mental health problems can lead to someone believing they want to die so if euthanasia was legal we would have the topic of assisted suicide on our hands. This obviously is murder because you are killing someone, even if it is for a good cause or because they want it. It would be harder for actual murderers to get convicted of a crime because it's hard to know if someone actually wanted to end their life or it was just plain murder. If someone has a mental health problem, this can be cured most of the time with different medicines and treatments just like pain can. So if euthanasia is legalised, people, who have a chance of overcoming their issues, will not because they will chose to die.

On the flip side, we were not born into this world by choice, so if we wish to leave, why can’t we? Pain is a extraordinary concept that can distort our lives to make it not worth living. Take for example, if you were in a motorbike accident and you were paralysed to the extent you couldn’t walk and had brain damage to the extent you couldn’t talk. It had left you in body curling pain that you had to endure your whole life. Doctors knew of this pain and couldn’t do anything to help you so you are just left all day, every day, in the care of others, not being able to do anything for yourself. Those ‘others’ have to make your day to day decisions, keep you alive and run your entire life for you. Surely this is just the same as someone deciding to end your misery for you. It’s kinder.

Mental health is something that affects people’s lives for their whole lives. If this can not be taken away then these people are in immense pain and suffering for the entire course of their lives. If someone’s mental state can’t be helped, then it should be treated exactly like physical pain. Of course doctors will choose if your mental state is bad enough, but this is what they have trained for many years to do. Give you the best quality of life possible.

Euthanasia would benefit the economy greatly. We all know how much trouble the NHS is in at the

moment as well as our struggling economy. If we relieved people of their pain, as by their request, we would not just benefit them but the NHS would not have to spend the millions of pounds keeping them alive and caring for them for the course of their lives.

I’m not saying we should just kill everyone who is in pain, but we should take their wishes into account otherwise they may as well have no wishes at all, therefore depriving them of their human rights. Obviously there should be immense deliberation before taking someone’s life but there should be a choice whether to carry on your story or end it where you desire. You may think this may lead to everyone just deciding they want to die but in fact, in the Netherlands, where euthanasia is legal, only 1.7% of deaths are assisted deaths, all of which have good reason as ⅔ of people who apply to be euthanized are declined.