What is euthanasia? Well eu comes from the Greek language that means “good” and “thanatos” means death. Euthanasia is the intentional killing of a human being for his or her benefit. This usually occurs when someone is deathly ill, not responding to medical treatment anymore, and in excruciating pain. The most common in passive euthanasia is to deliver high dosages of morphine to the patient which will act as a pain killer and also slow respiration, which will cause death. This person may ask to be killed which is known as voluntary euthanasia. Non voluntary euthanasia is when the person is killed and never requested to be put to death. Assisted suicide is when a person provides information and guidance to help a person commit suicide. Physician assisted suicide is when a doctor helps a person kill themselves. Passive euthanasia is when you remove life support, stopping medical procedures, not helping the person is anyway while he or she is dying. Euthanasia by action is when someone kills another person by giving them a lethal injection; this is usually done in jails when someone is on death row. Euthanasia by omission is killing a person by not providing the proper care, such as food and water. The following are different forms of euthanasia.
How do people respond to euthanasia? When I interviewed people, everyone seemed to be for it, in just about every form. But the most popular is voluntary euthanasia, probably because the person is giving his or her consent to be put to death. When most people think of voluntary euthanasia they think of someone who is terminally ill with n a few days, weeks, or months left to live, and they are in so much pain. To them the pain is not worth being unhappy for the short time they have left to live, so they asked to be put to death. When I asked someone why they think euthanasia should be legal, the person responded, “I think the most difficult thing to do is to watch a person you love dearly in pain because of an incurable disease.” I think many people agree with what she had to say and that’s why many people are for euthanasia. People also believe in euthanasia by action because people who are killed in this type of euthanasia, by lethal injection are usually in jail and on death row. When people think of people being killed in this way they say stuff like, “they must have done something to deserve it” and “an eye for an eye.” But not everyone believes in euthanasia.
Most people don’t believe in assisted suicide, which is giving information and guidance to the person who wants to commit suicide. People don’t feel this is right because according to most religions committing suicide is wrong and if you are healthy enough to live you should. People also say the choice is for God to decide when a person should live and when they should die. They say it’s inhumane, but what about our animals. We don’t let them suffer in pain, we euthanize them usually as soon as we find out they are sick. People also don’t believe in killing by omission for the obvious reasons of letting the person suffer until they die. It is wrong to make people go without food or water for several days till they finally pass. But people don’t all ways suffer in pain when they are being euthanized.
The big controversy over this is should euthanasia be legal. Many people think it should be for the right reasons, such as preventing a person from suffering and dying a horrible death. Others believe that no matter what is happening euthanasia should not be legal. People should be allowed to make their own decision when it’s there life. If you were in their position and knowing you were going to die a slow, painful, and agonizing death, would you ask a doctor to euthanize you so you could be happy and pain free in your final days? Many people would say yes, and ask a doctor to euthanize them because no one wants to be remembered in their final days as helpless and lifeless. People want others to remember them when they were lively, in good spirits, and healthy. But the question will always be up in the air, euthanasia will probably never be legalized in the United States. People should have the right to make their own choices. Isn’t that what America is all about?
http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/index.html http://www.religioustolerance.org/euth1.htm
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By collecting these multiple beliefs about why euthanasia is or is not acceptable, you've got a good start to an essay about euthanasia. But within all of these basic truths/definitions/opinions about euthanasia, what do you find of paricular interest? what sort of questions do you have? What are you interested in exploring more deeply? What elements of this situation do you think deserve more attention? Right now, this essay doesn't seem to explore some particular perspective on euthanasia; in short, you need some kind of angle.
I think you raise some points that could be developed further into a more focused essay. You write, for instance, that this "question will always be up in the air." Why is this true of euthanasia? since euthanasia is currently illegal, does this really qualify as being
"up in the air"? If it were legalized, as abortion is, would it cease to be "up in the air"?
Also, your comparison between euthanasia and putting animals to sleep could be developed to explore how we draw the line between our willingness to euthanize animals and people. The word you use, "inhumane," suggests that "man" is a special case, and that being human is an ideal we try to live up to. So, it would make sense that we would hold different standards for the lives of humans and animals. But should we?
People often use fairly extreme standards to measure whether euthanasia would be appropriate. You, for instance, discuss euthanasia in instances of terminal illness or "incurable" disease, or a "horrible" or "agonizing death." But what of people who want to avoid having an "uncomfortable" death, or an "inconvenient" disease. where do we draw the line in regards to the amount of suffering one has to foresee having before we approve of the decision to end one's life?
I guess what I'm suggesting is to think through the language you are using and to make that part of your essay--to think through the issue of euthanasia perhaps by considering how we talk about euthanasia, and to use this attention to language to bring us to some new understanding about this topic.
I'm interested in what you consider the "mythic" aspects of people's beliefs about euthanasia are. Surely, as you point, some people beleive one thing and others beleieve another. But why do they beleive these things? What sort of relief does one get from one set of beliefs or another? What other beliefs influence one's support for or rejection of euthanasia? For instance, how would one's views on suffering affect one's atittude toward euthanasia.
Are their contradictions within these beliefs? For instance, you invoke the idea that people should be free to make their own choices to suggest that euthanasia should be allowed, but we routinely decide that people should not be allowed to choose to steal one another's belongings, that one can't simply choose to drive a car without first getting a license and insurance, that one can not choose to have a college degree without actually going to college, and that one can't choose (without punishment) to yell "fire" in a crowded theater. So, I'd like you to go beyond simply stating that people should have the right to make choies, and explore why people should have the right to make this choice. We restrict choice in so many other ways, why should we not restrict this choice?
I look forward to your revised draft.
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