Benson 1

Olivia Benson

Mr. Hilgeman

Writing 1

May 30, 2019

Euthanizing Someone should be Legal

You walk into the front office and go over to the receptionist. She takes your name and

you have a seat. The doctor calls your name and you take yourself and Sadie into the back room.

“I’m sorry but we are unable to complete your request.”. That baffles you so you ask why not.

Sadie is in immense pain and she won't be getting better. “Miss, it is illegal to euthanize your

grandmother.” You think, she doesn’t want to live and she cannot physically do it herself- and

she has asked for it. “Well, that is annoying…” “ Do you even know what Euthanasia is?”

Euthanasia is “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured

individuals (such as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of

mercy”(“Euthanasia.”). Euthanasia should be legal because it saves the patient money, it's

morally wrong to force the patient to live, and the patient is entitled to do what they want with

their own body.

Euthanasia saves money on expensive healthcare for the patient. Healthcare can be very

expensive for patients or families in the USA, especially for surgeries or chemotherapy.

“Chemotherapy…[has] a total cost of $40,102 for first line mesothelioma treatment”(King). If

someone is in the hospital, they aren’t working. The person in the hospital wouldn’t be able to

make that money. If the person has a terminally ill disease and they have to treat it till their clock

runs out, they would be racking up a lot of debt to pass to any children they have or other

relatives from their treatments. “Many [A]merican families go in dept after a cancer
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diagnosis”(King). Keeping someone in pain alive just so they can pay money that they don't have

is cruel. If someone is in need of a surgery because something happens to their body at the

hospital while they wait out their final days, they’ll pay a lot for that too. “Pleural Mesothelioma

surgery is comparable to lung cancer surgery which has an average cost of $40,000”(King). The

prices for all of this care stay in the thousands, even if your insurance says they’ll cover some of

it or most of it. The patient, who cannot work, has to pay thousands. Even if insurance it is still

costly, “...for patients with [M]edicare the median cost of a course of radiation with lung cancer

is $9,000”(King). The patient cannot pay this, and should not have to work till they die.

Euthanizing them at their own request would be better for their wallet, and their family’s wallet.

It's morally wrong to force the patient to live longer than they should. When someone is

in pain with a terminal illness they too should not have to wait in pain till they die. “...making

[the patient] go on living when they don't want to violates their personal freedom and human

rights. It's immoral...to force people to continue living in suffering and pain”(“Ethics…”). In

America you are born into freedom to do what you want with your body. Forcing someone to

live in pain is not okay and it is better to end it, if that’s what the person chooses. “...it is best to

end the lives of those in pain, rather than trying to make their lives full of suffering and torture

longer”(“Three Reasons Why…”). Forcing someone to live in pain goes against the basic

morality of a human.

The patient is entitled to do what they want with their own body. Anyone’s body is their

own right. If they want to tattoo their face to look like a cat, they can. It is a right to have

freedom over your being. Someone is also liable to the right to die when you are suffering and

have a terminal disease. “They say that our bodies are our own, and we should be allowed to do

what we want with them”(“Ethics…”). You are in control of yourself, you should have the choice
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to leave this world when you want. “..the patients own their bodies”(“Three Reasons Why…”). If

you don’t want to live in pain and you want your doctor to euthanize you, the doctor should be

allowed to do so.

One of the main arguments against euthanasia is the “fear that if euthanasia was made

legal, the laws regulating it would be abused, and people would be killed who didn't really want

to die”(“Ethics…”). To start, euthanasia is a choice made by patients who have the mental

stability to say they want to die. The patient is the only one who can request euthanasia. Another

argument against it is, “Religious opponents of euthanasia believe that life is given by God, and

only God should decide when to end it”(“Ethics…”). Though you could say this, if God decides

everything, what do you do when you’re sick? You go to the doctors for a shot or antibiotics to

feel better, but that isn’t God’s choice. That would be your own choice, so what’s the difference

between this and euthanasia?

Euthanasia should be legal for everyone. “...if it can be morally right to kill some

competent patients at their request, then it must be morally justified to give them the medical

wherewithal to kill themselves”(Doyal). Imagine a loved one being in such pain or terminally ill,

that they just want it to end. Though, they couldn't do it themselves, and a doctor was not

allowed help or stop supplying the things that keep the special someone alive. It is the doctor's

legal right to respect the choices of their patients (Doyal). Putting someone out of their misery in

a way to end their suffering is morally acceptable and a good thing. If the person chooses this

route as their way to go rather than unbearable pain or psychological problems, it needs to be

allowed. How would you feel if you were them?

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Works Cited:

“Being able to make our own decisions about our health, body and sexual life is a basic

human right.” amnesty.org, https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved/my-body-my-rights/

Doyal, L, and L Doyal. “Why Active Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide Should Be

Legalised.” BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), BMJ, 10 Nov. 2001,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1121585/.

“Ethics - Euthanasia: Ethics of Euthanasia - Introduction.” BBC, BBC, 2014,

www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/overview/introduction.shtml.

“Euthanasia.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/euthanasia.

King, Daniel and Pacheco, Walter “Cost of Mesothelioma Treatment” asbestos.com, April 3,

2019 https://www.asbestos.com/treatment/expenses/

“Three Reasons Why Euthanasia Should Be Legalized.” 123helpme.com, 21 May 2019,

https://www.123helpme.com/three-reasons-why-euthanasia-should-be-legalized-view.asp?

id=171053