why are people against the idea of euthanasia?

Answer 1

For people - I would support it if it were the wishes of the person who was being assisted in death. I cannot imagine living with a jhorrible termianl illness and in massive amounts of pain.

Answer 2

I assume you are speaking of euthanasia for humans… Many people I think see it as suicide which is against most religions. I think most anyone who is against euthanasia has never had a loved one die in front of them, slowly and painfully with a terminal illness. The people who say that euthanasia or “assisted suicide” is wrong don’t understand how wrong and inhumane it is to keep people alive who are living in utter agony and hell with no quality of life or hopes there of. People who disagree with euthanasia must not really believe that a soul moves forward after this physical existence or else they wouldn’t think it such a big deal for someone to move on when they have gotten all that they can from this life.

Yes there are concerns of abuse, health care industry shortcut, families with ulterior motives, euthanasia of children with minor birth defects, etc but that is with everything. Do you not allow a police force because they could abuse the power. Do you not allow organ donation (Which does get abused) because the medic is playing god, do you not allow people to drive on the roads because they could get into an accident? Even horrid killers we go out of our way to make sure we end their life without any pain but yet because of peoples fears, 10,000s of thousands of good people are living just to die with every new day more painful than the last while their family sits by grieving building memories they will never forget, memories that never should have been. It is not to reject the importance of humanity but to embrace it, to deny needless suffering into this world. Fear far too long has interfered with progress. Taking away a perfectly good life from this earth is much more different than helping someone move past the purgatory of intermediary death. Obviously the decision to euphonize should only be with concurrence from a medical expert, the patient and or a very close family member.


To answer your question it is fear and lack of an experience where euthanasia is warranted , that is why people are against the idea of euthanasia.

Answer 3

Where do you stop? Who decides? You can begin with the terminally ill. Then of course there's the clinically insane. Neither group will ever recover. Get rid of 'em The severely handicapped such as paraplegics are really of no use to anyone. Then there's the really, really old people. They should be required to accept voluntary euthanasia. And you can go right down the list. The Nazis referred to the mentally retarded patients they euthanized as "life not worth living". What if a mother refuses the order of a court to abort her fetus and she's prosecuted and the state euthanizes her 2-year old? The child is a non-person who should not have been born. So in reality he never existed. Abortion ex utero meets euthanasia. Brave New World.

Answer 4

As much as I personally believe in any person's right to die a painless or more gracefull death than a machine would offer.

I would always keep a watchful eye on the answer above, "afraid it will be used as a means to contain healthcare costs."

Knowing how medical insurance has acted in the past... when do you get that letter/phonecall when someone tells you that you have 2 more days of keeping your mother on the machine....

That said, euthanasia initiated by the "euthanisee" should be all well and good. Keep your laws/religion/feelings/oppinions off the ONE THING that people in this world can call "their own".

Answer 5

1.) Euthanasia would not only be for people who are "terminally ill".

2.) Euthanasia can become a means of health care cost containment.

3.) Euthanasia will become non-voluntary.

4.) Euthanasia is a rejection of the importance and value of human life.

Answer 6

I am not sure because we give animals who are sick and infirm the courtesy of dying without suffering. I have often thought we should do the same for humans.

The tough question is: when is a case hopeless?

I have seen many people rally from what was thought to be certain death. If those people had been euthanized they would be gone forever. I think allowing a person to die with dignity and without pain is the choice of the person: that is the reason we all need to leave a Living Will with our relatives and friends. It is very easy to obtain a Living Will at most hospitals and better not to wait until you need the Living Will as you may not be in a state to sign one.

Answer 7

Religious people believe that all life is sacred, and that only God should decide matters concerning the endings of lives.

The idea that certain lives are not worth living is very subjective, and once we allow one person (or group) to decide which people deserve to go on living and which do not, we allow the deciders' flawed judgment to rule over life and death.

Stephen Hawking, for example is in a miserable physical state. His mind, however, is one of the greatest of our generation, and his contributions to physics has been unmeasurable. Should someone have decided to Euthanize him, we would have lost a precious gift.

Also, once you start deciding life and death for others, you are tempted to "move the bar" and take out people who may just be old or depressed or people who's illnesses simply cost their families too much money. I'd hate to think my Grandmother's life wasn't worth her medical bills.

Finally, if you take the responsibility for deciding life and death, you can eventually arrive at horrible conclusions, like the Nazis deciding that millions of Jewish people ought to be put down for the "betterment" of the Nazi interests.

Answer 8

Because euthanasia is one person killing another person. Whether the person who dies wanted to or not, it's still one person killing another.

It's important to remember that euthanasia is not the same as assisted suicide. One person choosing to kill themself to avoid a terminal illness, whether assisted or not, is always different than someone else killing them.

Answer 9

1. Playing God
2. It opens the door to kill people for emotional reasons: baby's sex, baby's birth defect, etc. It is bad enough that there are abortions being done because the mom is depressed and she has stetch marks.
3. Slippery slope argument. If this then what? 40 years ago, abortion on demand was unheard of. But with the 1960's feminazi movement and Roe V Wade, look where we are today.

Most importantly, we must respect life. We cannot allow people to die just because they want to.

Answer 10

Many people are sensitive to the question whether man has the right to take another's life.