As I dive deeper into the debate regarding the legalization of euthanasia, I have found

that the true conversation does not lie within the boundaries of dying patients but instead extends
mostly to the people who would utilize the newly legalized law though they are not terminally
ill. The issue with legalizing the act is the difficulty of creating a single standard to describe who
is allowed to utilize euthanasia knowing that each case is unique. In a perfect world a euthanasia
law would cover every ethical reason for mercy killing without aiding to those who do not
need access to the law. This creates a sticky situation for whomever creates and enforces such
guidelines as we all know that this very fine line can be interpreted and misinterpreted in many
different ways.
Todays controversy regarding euthanasia has been falsely perceived by the public up until
this point, those fighting to legalize it have tunnel vision towards saving the sick from painful
last days and overlook what effects legalization might have on the healthy or mentally ill. The
goal of my Inquiry Product is to put in simple terms what is likely to happen if legalization of
euthanasia occurs using what journalist Winston Ross calls the snowball effect. (5) I wish to
show euthanasia supporters of major cities considering legalization that I also believe that it is
ethical to stop a terminal illness before nature takes its course but that the number of patients that
will truly be helped is only a small piece of a much larger picture. A flyer is most beneficial because it allow me to communicate more information than a poster does but has the potential to
get to the same audience very quickly by catching peoples attention.
At the top of the flyer you will see a small snowball being pushed by a cancer patient,
this is Brittany Maynard. Brittany is 29 year old, newlywed who chose to end her life through the
means of euthanasia after a long fought battle with stage 4 glioblastoma. (Briggs par.2) I chose

her to represent what I consider a small snowball because she is very well known and was in fact
extremely ill before her time of death by assisted suicide. I hope that by using such an influential
figure the viewers of this flyer will know that I am on their side as well and that they will welcome the other information presented with an open mind.
As for the second snowball presented, I have chosen to depict a blind woman who claims
that loosing her vision has diminished her quality of life. As she molds the meaning of quality
of life the reader gets a glimpse of the law expanding to meet the needs of the public. As the use
of euthanasia increases it attempts to cater to everyone but the act of dying may be taking it to an
extreme. Dassalar, of The Lancet, blames the lack of inadequate good treatments for the sick
for the sudden increase in euthanasia. For instance, if this newly blind woman could be offered
some sort of aid, possibly a treatment to prolong complete blindness and low vision products,
death would not be so prevalent on her mind.
People of our society are consumed with the fear of dying causing the push for the legalization of euthanasia to skyrocket. Critics often refer to euthanasia as bargain hunting because
it spares them the fear of the unknown. (Warren) Though you could possibly argue this as a good
thing, allowing people an easy way out of life itself diminishes the drive within them to create
their own desirable life. Humankind will have absolutely nothing left if they can not find hope
within themselves.
This leads me to the largest snowball, depicting a healthy person who has given up all
hope on life asking the government to approve what could easily be argued as suicide. I based
the idea of this snowball off of a couple from Canada, Betty and George Columbias. After
George was diagnosed with a heart disease Betty decided that she could not go on without him.

Together they requested permission of the Canadian government to commit simultaneous suicide
through the means of euthanasia. Whether or not you consider Betty Columbias to be insane, she
is abusing the term euthanasia as well as the term quality of life. (Assisted Suicide Laws in the
U.S. and Abroad)
Having quality of life does not translate to perfection. Both the blind woman and Betty
Columbias have molded what terminology is used to defend the act of euthanasia into what is
now suicide. Society continues to push the envelope to the point that scholars have suggested
doing away with the word euthanasia all together in hopes of eliminating the multiple meanings
it has acquired. The word itself sells Warrens idea of bargain hunting literally translating into
good death or to bring about good death, if given the choice nobody would want to die a bad
death over a good one. To top it off we combine the word euthanasia with adjectives to make it
fit our situation, for instance, active (or traditional) euthanasia is the act of killing a patient while
passive euthanasia is simply withholding necessary treatment for a patient to live. (Kuiper,
Michael, Leslie Whetstine, John Holmes, Stephen Streat, Richard Burrows, Ian Seppelt, and
David Crippen)

Works Cited
Original
Briggs, Bill. "Brittany Maynard's Death: Why Is Brain Cancer So Lethal." NBC News. NBCNews, 4 Nov. 2014. Web. 2015.
Ross, Winston. "Dying Dutch: Euthanasia Spreads Across Europe." Newsweek. Newsweek,
2015. Web. 2015.

"Assisted Suicide Laws in the U.S. and Abroad." Frontline. WGBH Educational Foundation,
1995. Web. 2015.

Updated
Dasselaar, N., F. Boersma, J. Langue, and M. Somerville. "Euthanasia." The Lancet 345.8959
(1995). Print.
Kuiper, Michael, Leslie Whetstine, John Holmes, Stephen Streat, Richard Burrows, Ian Seppelt,
and David Crippen. "Euthanasia: A Word No Longer to Be Used or Abused." Intensive Care
Medicine 33.3 (2006): 549-50. Web. 2015.
Warren, J. "Euthanasia." (2015). Web. 2015.