Euthanasia The Right to a Peaceful and Merciful Death Essay

The arrogance of mankind has dampened the hope that individuals can achieve a dignified death. Science says: We must live, and seeks the means of prolonging, increasing, facilitating, and amplifying life, of making it tolerable and acceptable, wisdom says: We must die and seeks how to make us die well. - M. De Unamund sss. Whoosh. Hum. Beep. Slurp. A clock alerts her. Time to flip him over. The tired woman struggles to lift the six-foot, four-inch skeleton for the fifth time that day. Time to suction the massive bedsores filled with pustules. Slurp up the puss again. Ed, do you want to try to eat today? No response. The eyes are vacant, and the expression is infantile. The tongue hangs from the mouth, and a string of†¦show more content†¦A rational understanding of the issue makes it possible to respond to the objections of those who oppose euthanasia. Understanding the issue will support the claim that all forms of euthanasia should be made legal in the United States to protect the right that humans should have to a benevolent death. Euthanasia is a new-fangled notion that violates traditional social and religious beliefs! Human beings have practiced euthanasia since the classical era of Greece and Rome. Deformed infants born in the city-state of Sparta were left to die so that the society would not have to admit them into their strong and robust society. The Romans would assist their elderly citizens in dying so they could relieve their families of the burden of their care (Shaeffer 5). Though Euthanasia has long been practiced, only recently has society begun criminally prosecuting physicians who engage in it. No civilized nation would permit a practice like euthanasia! The United States has laws that permit some forms of passive euthanasia, which is the halting of medical treatment to allow the patient to die of natural causes. Turning off a respirator or ending dialysis treatments are forms of passive euthanasia that are practiced by doctors with a familys consent in this country. In contrast, the Netherlands has made it legal to practice other forms of euthanasia as well. Dutch physicians are able actively to aidShow MoreRelatedThe Death Of The Terminally Ill1743 Words   |  7 Pagestheir needs, one must be able to also arrange their death to suit their needs to the fullest extent possible. For the terminally ill, death is a promise soon to be delivered on. The best thing we can do as a society to help those who are on borrowed time is to allow them the choice of a peaceful, merciful death. When we take the waiting and suffering out of the equation for the terminally ill, we will progress as a society. 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