Right To Die Essay

The Right to Die
Death is the unavoidable end everyone has to face eventually. It is argued about if we should be able to choose when this fateful event will occur. This has been a discussion for years and continues today especially in light of longer life spans. When it comes down to it one has to choose a side on the debate of euthanasia. The right to choose to die should be illegal because, it destroys the chance of recovery, people could be unwillingly pressured to do it and sometimes patients might request to die just because they're unhappy.
Patients who are terminally ill could end their lives too soon, which would get rid of the possibility of recovery. One fear people express is that advocates don't, ¨Take into account the possibility
of spontaneous remission”. Even if the survival rate is small, some still do and that shouldn’t be ignored. People also express the fear that, the readiness to end lives of terminally ill patients might foreclose the possibility of recovery, however slim the chance (Bruenig 13). It could eventually become a regular practice, where patients who could’ve survived, instead are killed by assisted suicide. These are some explanations of why ending lives of patients too soon, could get rid of any small chance of recovery.
Terminally ill patients might be pressured into dying because they’re disabled, ill, or cannot afford treatment. A supporter of this concern, Marilyn Golden of the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, states ¨Patients can be pressured to use the law by family members or choose to end their lives because it's less costly than continuing treatment” (Sansburn). This is a concerning idea because many terminally ill patients can't afford the treatment they need to survive. Some might say that, “There is little evidence that legal active voluntary euthanasia (or assisted suicide) contributes to the coercion of the poor” (Bruenig 14). However, just because there isn’t much evidence doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening behind closed doors. After all, many things happen without the patient's consent, such as having their data withdrawn (Hendin).These examples show that terminally ill patients might be unrightfully pressured into euthanasia, so it shouldn't be legal.
Some people might request euthanasia because they are unhappy and not because they're suffering.
A real life example of this is when, ¨Belgian doctors granted a 24-year-old woman her request for assisted suicide for no reason other than her unhappiness. Because of this Belgian law numerous other people have made the decision to die rather than seek treatment for depression. One statistic from Belgium shows that, from 2012 to 2013 alone, euthanasia increased by nearly 27 percent(Bruenig 14). This is not likely to be just from illness, many people use it as a way to end their sadness; suicide. Also a concerning thought was stated by Coleman , “Those people were not actually terminally ill," yet they still receive life ending drugs (Wilson.) Overall euthanasia should not be legalized because the right could be misused by unhappy people.
The right to choose assisted suicide should be illegal because, it ends any small chance of recovery, fatally ill patients could be unwillingly pressured into it, and finally depressed and unhappy people could use it to escape their emotions. Patients shouldn’t choose when our lives should end, it happens to everyone eventually. The eventual effects of euthanasia are serious and often overlooked. People should think through the lasting effects of legalizing assisted
suicide.