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Euthanasia is the process of purposefully ending another person’s life to stop their suffering. An example of this may be a doctor offering someone who has a terminal condition such as cancer drugs to humanely end their pain, this can be classed as euthanasia. There are many forms of euthanasia and just as many reasons as to why someone may wish to request to die. The most common reason being an incurable illness which is causing chronic symptoms and agony. In the UK, medical euthanasia is illegal many people, religious or not have strong opinions towards euthanasia and I will discuss these in this essay.
An argument commonly put forward to oppose euthanasia is that although we have a right to live, we do not hold the right to choose when we die. This argument commonly comes from those with a religious point of view, such as Christians. They believe life is a sacred gift from God and that it should be treated as such. It should be protected not destroyed. Many Christians believe this due to teachings from the bible such as:
“No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death.” (Ecclesiastes 8:7-8)
This quotation from the bible helps to show that God is the reasoning for all life, and that only he has the power to decide when one dies. Human beings shouldn’t take matters into their own hands, however, they do. Human interference occurs hundreds of times a day, even common medical procedures such as resuscitation on a cardiac patient is a form of choosing whether or not someone should die but this is discredited by religious people arguing that it is saving a life and not comparable to taking a life.
Humanists would argue with this viewpoint stating that life is not ‘sacred’ – instead, it should be viewed as valuable and irreplaceable. This is because they do not believe in a God or an afterlife, that the world was not created by a higher power. They believe that this is the only life we have and that the quality of life should be of utmost importance. If a person is having to endure a terminal illness and is in agonizing pain, then they should be allowed to make the decision of whether or not to keep living. I agree with this because the choice to end suffering should be on a person-person basis. I don’t believe that other people should have a say in your decision making if it goes against their religion and not yours. People with terminal conditions undergo inevitable suffering which impacts on their quality of life. It should be far more important to allow them the choice to end their life than it is to follow outdated religious teachings about life being sacred.
However, like anything, it is open to abuse. While is it expected that euthanasia is carried out for reasons of compassion and the end of suffering, we cannot always be sure of this. How can we guarantee that death is what the person actually wants? Factors such as the pressure of family members having to care for the sick loved-one may coerce them into ‘choosing’ to be euthanised. Even just the thought of burdening people may push a terminally-ill person into this life-ending decision. A strong argument for this comes from the Chruch of Scotland where they have stated:
“The situation must never arise where the terminally-ill or the very elderly feel pressurised by society to end their lives.”
This gives the point of view that many Christians hold is that we as a society should not make those who are going through agony and hardship feel as though they are a burden or a waste of medical resources. While I do agree with this in some aspects, I believe more strongly that if euthanasia was legalised in the UK many precautionary measures would be placed in order to minimise the chances of this. If euthanasia isn’t legalised, it will still happen behind closed doors it will just be unsafe and probably cause more pain to the person.
In the UK right now there are alternatives to euthanasia such as refusing treatment. This can take long periods of time to work and usually leaves the patient in more pain than they started with. Gruelling alternatives such as the Liverpool Care Pathway starves people of food and water to end their lives. Voluntary euthanasia can ensure that people die quickly, and painlessly, and this, in my opinion, makes it morally justifiable.
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