The Importance of Euthanasia and the Challenges that may Emerge if it were Eliminated (Essay Sample)

Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Voluntary Euthanasia
Introduction
Diseases are very diverse, and each of the available types is generally characterized by some properties. Nurses and medical practitioners are often faced with various challenges related to the way certain scenarios can be handled. One of the biggest problems that these individuals encounter is the idea of people suffering from fatal infections like cancer. Patients with problems of this nature eventually die. Even though there could be long time left before the deaths of such individuals, they usually encounter a lot of pain. Nurses and other healthcare professionals have for a long time failed to deal with a situation of this nature. This results into an ethical dilemma that is often very difficult to solve. On one end, it is a known fact that every person has the right to live. Other the other hand, excruciating pain can at times bring more suffering than death. There have been discoveries which are employed in helping such patients to overcome the excessive pain that is associated with their respective conditions.
Two of the most popular methods applied in achieving this objective include the assisted suicide and Euthanasia. In some cases, these two terms may be used interchangeably. However, there are cases in which they have different definitions. Irrespective of the strategies used, there are always moral grounds used to argue the rightness or wrongness of these alternatives. The use of these techniques in handling the described problems can always be viewed in two different ways. They are known to be methods that encourage the intentional termination the lives of the people. However, the decision is arrived at after an exhaustive cost/benefit analysis. In this case, the nurses and the medical professionals focus on the analysis of the level of comfort of the patients while alive and dead. The main aim is to relieve the patients of the unnecessary painful experiences especially considering the fact that those associated with such events are usually sure to die. This research will explore the effects of euthanasia prohibition on dying patients’ well-being and freedom (right to die) and consider that legalizing euthanasia would be beneficial for our society.
Background information
Euthanasia. The term euthanasia is a translation of the Greek Phrase meaning ‘good death.’ The concept has been used to refer to the process of ending a patient’s life with the aim of relieving them of suffering brought about by the diseases. The individuals who are typically considered for the procedure are those who have been confirmed to suffer from unbearably painful encounters (Cavan 81). The rules governing this practice generally differ in several ways countries and medical institutions. However, the bottom line is that it involves intentional ending of the life of a person so that they can be free from the extreme pain that they are going through. The procedure can be undertaken with or without the permission of the patient depending on the law associated with it in the region of consideration.
In places such as Britain, the decision to proceed with the act can be decided by a special committee in charge of the ethical maters in medicine. In Holland, the patient has to be the one to request for the procedure before it can be declared acceptable. There are certain diseases that are certain to kill a person irrespective of the status of the individual (Cavan, 94). There are also scenarios whereby the doctors are perfectly aware of the remaining part of a person’s life based on the rate at which these diseases cause deteriorations on their health. In the event that the time that a patient has before their death is very short and the possibility of recovery is difficult, considerations can be made. The key argument here is that there is no point in going through traumatic experiences when death is a certainty and the remaining time is also brief. In view of these conditions, the process is sometimes referred to as prematurely ending the life of a patient who is sure to die.
Historical Background. By the year 1870, there were already forums intended to debate on the use of euthanasia in the United States. However, this was the time during which there were first instances of contemporary debates about the practice. The implication of this argument is that there were already cases of patient assisted suicide before this time (Orton 17-22). The ancient Greeks and Romans were already practicing euthanasia long before it became known in regions like the United States. Early philosophers like Socrates and Plato already mentioned the idea in their literature, a concept that was heavily criticized by Hippocrates. Ever since the invention occurred, there have been various amendments to the system in different parts of the world. Every region is generally interested in seeing that the process is conducted in a manner that is resonant with their ethical demands and practices. For this reason, the rules and legislations governing euthanasia have been changing from time to time. A clear example of the differences in the laws associated with the system is the case of the United States and Netherlands. The US has divided the act into two types (euthanasia and patient assisted death) to allow for the cases where it can be conducted in the absence of the patient’s consent.
Effects of Euthanasia Prohibition on the Wellbeing of the Patients
This practice has been identified as a method of ensuring that the level of discomfort among people suffering from deadly diseases is eliminated through their death. The prohibition of the practice would prevent the medical practitioners from conducting the process on the affected patients. As a result of this decision, there would be various consequences associated with the situation. It is clear that the individuals who are exposed to such operations are those whose health have deteriorated to such an extent that they are not recoverable (Orton 36-39). There are also high levels of certainty that such individuals are bound to pass away in the near future. In spite of their fates, these people still have the rights to comfort and letting them live with such conditions exposes them to even more painful encounters. A typical example is a person who has had an accident and experienced acute damages to the major organism like the heart and the lungs. In addition to the excruciating pain, such a patient is also certain to die because there is no replacement for such organs. Letting the person continue living is exposure to more pain especially considering the fact that they cannot breathe well and has a tormenting incident.
The other encounter that characterizes the lives of the patients in this condition is the mental torture. Those who are suffering due to retarded health are always aware of their conditions as well as the experiences that their families go through to ensure that their financial requirements are met. Having such thoughts is not advisable for a person who is sick. A patient whose mind is never at ease has the tendency to experience even worse developments with their health. The healing of the body is often claimed to begin with the mind (Keown 163-18). The issues associated with the uncomfortable mind are therefore considered to be secondary hindering factors on the health of the person. Consider a case where an individual whose family members are barely struggling to provide for his or her medical bills. Such a situation may occur in a manner that the relatives try so hard, but they do not have enough resources to support themselves. Knowing that he or she would eventually die and leave the family in such problems would induce mental thoughts. Excessive thinking is known to be another key threat to the health of a person. This is due of the fact that individuals experiencing such conditions may not be responsive to any medications provided to comfort them. Consequently, the health status would continue to worsen exposing the patient to even worse feelings.
The prohibition of the practice would be in sharp contrast with the oaths made by the professionals in this field to keep the sick individuals free of pain. Even though death is not the answer to this particular goal, there are certain times when it becomes an inevitable alternative. The primary objective of the treatment processes is to ensure that the patients get well. In the event that these methods fail to work, it would be worth trying other options (Keown 185). In most cases, these people are always in support of the procedure due to the traumatic experiences that they go through during their illness periods. If this process is rough to an end, the sick individuals who suffer from experiences of this nature would have to deal with the pain to the very minute when they die. This means that there would be no quick interventions intended to relieve suffering. The result is a situation whereby the patients are exposed to nothing but worse experience than what they would encounter when they were dead.
The Dr. Kevorkian case is one of the most popular scenarios that are often subjected to analysis when it comes to the idea of euthanasia. In this case, Jack Kevorkian, a medical doctor was accused of causing the death of a patient. This person was accused of having killed his patient, Thomas York. The victim of this murder who was also a resident of Detroit is said to have been suffering from lateral sclerosis (Ven and Hans-Georg 374-391). The Michigan medical practitioner recorded a video of himself while he was giving a lethal injection to the patient. Mr. York’s brother and wife were the only witnesses during the court hearing. In his defense, Dr. Kevorkian explained that he conducted this act to ensure that he relieved ...