Should Euthenasia Be Legalised?
Should euthanasia be legalised?
The answer to that question is yes. As human beings we should all have the right to end our suffering and to choose a dignified, quiet death. Euthanasia is the hastening of death for a suffering, terminally ill person. It is a quiet and easy death. Indeed, the term euthanasia quite literally means in Greek a good death. Euthanasia should be made a legal procedure within Australia as any such legalisation would give people the legal right to choose a ‘good death’, a dignified death for them.
As human beings we have the right to vote, to take responsibility for our actions and to make our own choices. We are an autonomous people with a right to self-sufficiency, independence and to self-regulation, so why should we not have the right to choose whether or not our lives should end if there is little or no hope of recovery?
Every person should have the legal right to make choices regarding their own lives and according to their own values as long as these choices do not impinge on the liberties of others. The choice of a terminally ill person to die does not impinge on the liberties of others – only their own. When the only alternative is suffering, we should all be allowed the option of a planned and dignified exit. By legalising euthanasia we would be offered this opportunity.
An example of the extreme suffering endured by a terminally ill patient is Melbourne resident Sandra Williamson, a motor neurone disease sufferer. Her disease caused progressive deterioration of muscles and continued until all her bodies muscles ceased to function. Simple tasks such as walking, breathing and speaking all became excruciatingly difficult and painful. Sandra could not move her body from her waist down, she could no longer read, needed a respirator and she woke of a night gasping for air. Eventually speech became impossible, she was fed through a tube and needed artificial ventilation as her lungs entirely ceased to function. Death from this
The answer to that question is yes. As human beings we should all have the right to end our suffering and to choose a dignified, quiet death. Euthanasia is the hastening of death for a suffering, terminally ill person. It is a quiet and easy death. Indeed, the term euthanasia quite literally means in Greek a good death. Euthanasia should be made a legal procedure within Australia as any such legalisation would give people the legal right to choose a ‘good death’, a dignified death for them.
As human beings we have the right to vote, to take responsibility for our actions and to make our own choices. We are an autonomous people with a right to self-sufficiency, independence and to self-regulation, so why should we not have the right to choose whether or not our lives should end if there is little or no hope of recovery?
Every person should have the legal right to make choices regarding their own lives and according to their own values as long as these choices do not impinge on the liberties of others. The choice of a terminally ill person to die does not impinge on the liberties of others – only their own. When the only alternative is suffering, we should all be allowed the option of a planned and dignified exit. By legalising euthanasia we would be offered this opportunity.
An example of the extreme suffering endured by a terminally ill patient is Melbourne resident Sandra Williamson, a motor neurone disease sufferer. Her disease caused progressive deterioration of muscles and continued until all her bodies muscles ceased to function. Simple tasks such as walking, breathing and speaking all became excruciatingly difficult and painful. Sandra could not move her body from her waist down, she could no longer read, needed a respirator and she woke of a night gasping for air. Eventually speech became impossible, she was fed through a tube and needed artificial ventilation as her lungs entirely ceased to function. Death from this