Euthanasia

Jack Kevorkian, dignified death, and mercy killings are all words associated with euthanasia and assisted suicide. As found at euthanasisa.com accessed on February 2nd 2004, euthanasia is the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit. Assisted suicide is preformed when someone provides an individual with the information, guidance, and means to take his or her life with the intention that it will be used for this purpose According to internationaltaskforce.com accessed Feb. 4, 2004, to distinguish the two, if a third party performs the last act that intentionally causes a patient's death, euthanasia has occurred. If the person who dies performs the last act, assisted suicide has taken place. It is important for all people young and old to be informed because many people have parents and grandparents that are considering euthanasia or assisted suicide. Euthanasia and assisted suicide should remain illegal because of five questions dealing with government and suffering, health care, guidelines, limitations, and undignified death procedures.

Does the government have the right to make people suffer? No, the government does not have the right to make people suffer, but the government also does not have the right to give one group of people the right to kill. According to internationaltaskforce.com, people often claim that laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide mandate suffering. However, this would be like saying that laws against selling contaminated food are government-mandated starvation. On the contrary, laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide are in place to prevent abuse and protect patients from unscrupulous doctors, not to make patients suffer. In addition, such claims also fail to recognize that pain can be eliminated or greatly reduced if proper treatment is given. With modern advances in pain control, no patient should ever be in excruciating pain.

Could euthanasia or assisted suicide be used as a means of health care cost containment? Yes, they certainly would become a source of cost containment. Legalized euthanasia or assisted suicide raises the potential for a profoundly dangerous situation in which assisted suicide or euthanasia may be the only affordable option for some people. This means those with out good insurance would not receive care but be recommended death.

Since these activities take place wouldn't it be better to legalize it so it will be practiced under specific guidelines? This sounds good but unfortunately, it does not work. Doctors that do not follow the guidelines will not report and even if they do, there is no way to tell if it is accurate. The Oregon law requires the Oregon Health Department to collect information and publish a report on these types of deaths. However, the law contains no penalties for health care providers who fail to report the information. Furthermore, there would be no way to determine whether deaths are accompanied with problems and complication since the Oregon law does not require that a physician be present at the time of death. According to the third annual report issued by Oregon Health Department, physicians were present only fifty-two percent of the time.

Wouldn't it only be available to people who are terminally ill? There are two major problems that come with this. One major problem is that there seems to be no tangible definition of terminal. According to freep.com accessed on February 8, 2004, Jack Kevorkian who participated in the deaths of more than one hundred and thirty people said that a terminal illness was "any disease that curtails life for even a day." Dr. Chabot a psychiatrist that provided drugs to a depressed, but physically healthy, woman, stated, "Persistently suicidal patients are, indeed, terminal." Terminal is also defined as a concrete expectancy of death. However, this statement is preposterous because all people at all ages have a "concrete expectancy of death". Second allowing terminally ill patients to exercise these practices would lead to a down ward spiral. If legalized it would be extended to people