Euthanasia

Death with dignity, also known as mercy killing or euthanasia, has been a controversial issue for years. Generally, different groups of people develop diverse opinions on this topic. The groups may be religious, regional, and even political bunches. While there still exists an ongoing debate on the issue, it is important for one to understand the concept thoroughly and develop his/her own opinion regardless of the group he/she belongs.

According to an English Dictionary, Euthanasia is defined as "The act of painlessly ending the life of a being that is suffering from a terminal illness or other painful or incurable condition." In other words, it can be seen as a method to "kill" someone who are struggling against a painful disease with little hope. Although the definition is relatively simple, it requires more detailed information to understand this very complex topic. There are usually two criteria that determine euthanasia. First, there is the active euthanasia and the passive euthanasia. The active euthanasia is a process that involves lethal injection. Contrarily, the passive euthanasia does not involve any drugs. It is operated only through the suspension of medical treatment without any direct usage of medicine. Second, people also divide euthanasia according to the condition of the patient; whether it was voluntary, involuntary, and, nonvoluntary euthanasia. Voluntary euthanasia is carried out by the patient's request. However, involuntary euthanasia is carried out without the patient's will. Finally, the nonvoluntary euthanasia is held forcibly. The genocide of the Jews by Nazi Germany took several different cruel means such as murder in gas chamber, cremation, and, a living-body test. It is known that euthanasia was also applied as one of the means. It shows an example of nonvoluntary euthanasia.

Euthanasia is faced with dilemma of whether or not the action is justifiable. Some people claim that it is justifiable because of the following reasons. First, everybody has a right to avoid pain and to die. Second, it is more humane to die painlessly than to live a life of suffering. Third, it is inefficient to apply every kinds of medical treatment merely to maintain the life of a being with almost no hope to recover. Also, the family members' anguish of having to spend so much time and money on the patient who no longer has the volition to live on is concerned. On the other hand, there are people who oppose this idea. They believe that no one possesses right to others' life nor to his/her own life and that euthanasia is an act of murder. Also, they assert that family members are responsible to overcome a hardship together and that is a bounden duty.

Many surveys on euthanasia has been made, but the result ranges according to the questions that are made and also the area where the survey took place. One of the recent survey result indicates that 60% of the American, 74% of Canadian, 80% of British, and, 80% of Australian population shows positive attitude towards euthanasia. (http://www.geocities.com/jesalgadom/euthanasia_english5.html) This result shows that in many countries, majority of people support the idea of euthanasia. Another source also reveals that "over the past fifty years, public opinion has moved steadily in favor of the right of the terminally ill to have medical treatment withheld or withdrawn. Numerous public