Tomorrow, you might be faced with cancer, heart disease, or a life-threatening illness. Many people believe that when they are experiencing serious health problems or nearing death that assisted suicide or euthanasia should be an option for them. Before considering the decriminalization of euthanasia or assisted suicide, you should know these facts...
Euthanasia is an act or failure to act which intentionally causes a person's death
Assisted suicide is providing the means for someone to kill themselves with knowledge of that person's intention (ex. providing drugs for a person knowing that the person intends to commit suicide).
1. They fear experiencing uncontrollable pain.
2. They fear becoming a burden upon family members and others.
3. They fear becoming abandoned or being left alone in their last days.
4. They fear receiving extraordinary medical treatment without their consent.
5. They fear living with terminal illness and losing their abilities or personal autonomy.
6. They fear death.
It is not necessary to legalize euthanasia or assisted suicide because:
a) You already have the legal right to remove or refuse medical treatment.
b) To withdraw or withhold treatment when the risk or burden of that treatment is greater than its benefit is a legal and common practice.
c) Pain-management drugs and palliative-care methods are capable of effectively controlling pain more than 95% of the time.
1. It undermines the truth that intentionally killing a human being is always wrong.
2. It erodes our respect for human life and establishes killing as an acceptable solution to problems that are best solved through caring options.
3. It changes the trust relationship between the medical professional and the patient. At what point will people fear for their life when they are in need of help?
4. It would probably begin as a "choice" for those people who are suffering and near to death. Once killing becomes an acceptable solution for one problem, what other problems will killing become an acceptable solution for?
5. It is a threat to people experiencing depression which is the most common factor in suicide attempts. Depression is usually a cry for help. How many requests for assisted suicide would be granted rather than the required help?
6. It is a threat to the weak and defenseless people in society (the mentally and physically challenged, the elderly and the chronically ill) who might be vulnerable to family members and medical care givers who already question their right to live. These people might either be pressured into "choosing" an earlier death or killed without their giving consent. One person's freedom to "choose death" might be the only "choice" offered to someone else.
Oppose any political action aimed at legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide.