Human Euthanasia as an Assisted Suicide

Euthanasia literally translates to “good death”. It is a way of bringing about a peaceful death of a terminally ill person.

As of November 2017, human euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Colombia, Luxembourg and Canada and Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, Germany, Japan, and in select US states.

Although euthanasia has no special legal position in the UK. Instances described as euthanasia are treated as murder or manslaughter. However, the Suicide Act of 1961 makes a specific offence of “criminal liability for complicity in another’s suicide”, while declaring suicide itself to be legal.

There are many Reasons for euthanasia, one of the most common reason is that the person involved is in great pain. Today, advances are constantly being made in the treatment of pain and, as they advance, the case for euthanasia/assisted-suicide is proportionally weakened. Euthanasia advocates stress the cases of unbearable pain as reasons for euthanasia. However Nearly all pain can be eliminated and in those rare cases where it can’t be eliminated it can still be reduced significantly if proper treatment is provided.

Another argument for assisted suicide is that people should not be forced to stay alive, many people feel that they have a right commit suicide disregarding the fact that assisted suicide and suicide itself are two different things, one is illegal and considered to be murder and the other is an tragic, individual act. neither the law nor medical ethics requires that “everything be done” to keep a person alive. Doctors will try their best to postpone death on their patient but when given clear instructions from the patient to stop the most a doctor can do is insure that all efforts are placed on making the patient’s remaining time comfortable. Then, all interventions should be directed to alleviating pain and other symptoms as well as to the supply of emotional and spiritual support for both the patient and the patient’s loved ones.

Euthanasia in many cases is less expensive for the patient and their family than the cost of keeping a terminally ill person alive. In the US Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people who are 65 or older, certain younger people with disabilities, and people with End-Stage Renal Disease, in 2010 Medicare paid $55 billion just for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients’ lives. And it has been estimated that 20 to 30 percent of these medical expenses may have had no meaningful impact.