Euthanasia - Should we have the right too choose?

"Patients who are being kept alive by technology and want to end their lives already have a recognized constitutional right to stop any and all medical interventions, from respirators to antibiotics. They do not need physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia".

Euthanasia has been at the centre of heated debates for many years now and is surrounded by religious, ethical and practical considerations.

The term is derived from the Greek word euthanatos which means easy death. 

In today's society anyone who is able to undergo or wishes to undertake euthanasia usually has an incurable condition.  In many cases it is carried out at the patients request but sometimes the patient may be too ill and the decision is made by relatives, medical staff or in the majority of cases, the courts.  

Recently, in the UK press, and by press I mean not the red tops, we have started to see cases where some people want the right to end their life.  

Euthanasia is against the law in the UK.  In the UK, it is illegal to help anyone kill themselves. Voluntary euthanasia or assisted suicide can lead to a lengthy imprisonment of up to 14 years.  The only exception in the UK is "passive euthanasia", which is where treatment that might extend someone's life is withdrawn such as a life machine being turned off.

  

Euthanasia, raises a number of agonising moral dilemmas.  I believe that we all have a difference of opinion based on the different ideas we have about the meaning and value of human existence.  

Is it ever right to end the life of a terminally ill patient who is undergoing severe pain and suffering? I believe personally it is right but only because of my personal situation.  In the future when my condition takes over and I have no quality of life I would hope that the law has changed and I have the right under conditions to end my life.  

Under what circumstances can euthanasia be justifiable, if at all?

Is there actually a moral difference between killing someone and letting them die?

Should human beings have the right to decide on issues of life and death?

Lately, I have heard some people say that euthanasia shouldn't be allowed, even if it was morally right, because it could be abused and used as a cover for murder.

Euthanasia can be carried out either by taking medication such as a lethal injection, or by failing to continue current treatment, that is necessary to keep a person alive. 

It is not euthanasia if a patient dies as a result of refusing medical treatment, often end stage cancer patients will refuse further treatments and I personally have met many people in such a situation the last few years. 

Society also needs to understand that it is not euthanasia to give a drug in order to reduce pain, even though the drug causes the patient to die sooner. The doctor's intention in this situation is to relieve pain, not to kill the patient. 

Euthanasia is often called mercy killing, I actually think of it as mercy killing when it is for someone who is terminally ill and suffering prolonged, unbearable pain.  Until you have been in a chemotherapy unit, honestly then you will understand why I believe this. 

Euthanasia is the thought of some people with severe pain.  Society, doesn't always understand the situation of terminally ill people.  Over the years, they have their quality of life severely damaged by physical conditions such as incontinence, nausea and vomiting, breathlessness, paralysis and difficulty in swallowing. Psychological factors that cause people to think of euthanasia include depression, fearing loss of control or dignity and feeling a burden.

Euthanasia can be active or passive.  Active euthanasia occurs when a medical professionals or another person, deliberately do something that causes the patient to die.

Passive euthanasia occurs when the patient dies because the medical professionals either don't do something necessary to keep the patient alive, or when they stop doing something that is keeping the patient alive such as switching of life support or disconnecting a feeding tube.  

Many make a moral distinction between active and passive euthanasia.  Many think that it is acceptable to withhold treatment and allow a patient to die, but that it is never acceptable to kill a patient by a deliberate act.  Some nurses, I have spoken to in Kings about this think it allows them to provide a patient with the death they want without moral complications. 

To me, stopping treatment is as deliberate as deciding not to carry out a particular treatment. 

I can see no real difference between passive and active euthanasia, both have the same result: the death of the patient on humanitarian grounds, removing life-support is just as much an act of killing as giving a lethal injection.

Death is one of the most important things that religions deal with.

Religion is a tricky subject and I am really not going to get into it.  Religion helps provide understanding and comfort for a majority of people facing death.  After death, for those left behind when someone dies religions provide rituals to mark death, and ceremonies to remember those who have died.

All faiths have strong views on euthanasia, being Catholic, I will focus briefly on the Catholic viewpoint.  The Roman Catholic church, is one of the most active organisations in opposing euthanasia.

All religions state that those who become vulnerable through illness or disability deserve special care and protection, and that proper end of life care is a much better thing than euthanasia.

The Roman Catholic Church clearly state that God has forbidden euthanasia. In the scriptures, it states that you must not kill which is misinterpreted as you must not kill innocent human beings which rules out euthanasia, suicide and murder.  As God created life, it is all sacred, it needs to be protected and preserved.  

The debate around Euthanasia and assisted dying in the UK is extremely controversial and is incredibly complicated and I believe we will be discussing this for many years to come.