euthanasia?

Question

why are some people in favor and against euthanasia?.

Answer 1

Denda,
As a hospice nurse I would like to address your question from both standpoints.
The pro euthanasia aspect is that a person should have the right to end their suffering from a terminal illness or debilitating disorder on his/her own terms. It stems from a very basic need that humans have to be "in control" of their destiny. It also comes about from a fear of the painful aspects invovling some types of death. There are two types of "pain" that most people who are terminally ill or have a chronic, long term dibilitating disorder identify. The first being physical pain: people fear physical pain. The second is emotional pain: people fear emotional pain almost as much as they fear physical pain. People mistakenly believe that the only way to have total control over these two areas is to commit "legal" sucicide through euthanasia.
Let me clarify something, I used to be a staunch defender of euthanasia. I felt that it should be a persons right to decide how and when they would exit this world with dignity and a minimum of pain as a result of a life threatening illness or debilitating disorder. Having worked in the hospice profession I now have a bit different theory of things.
This is where the no to euthanasia aspect comes in. Doctors now are much more willing to give the correct amount of pain control medications to patients on hospice then they were even as little as 10 years ago. I have honestly been able to keep between 90-96% of my patients pain free all the way through their deaths. Now, there are those 4% who we cannot get pain free. I do agree that there are some we just cannot completely handle their pain 100%. These are the people that I am not sure what the answer is to their delimmea. I do not believe that euthanasia is the answer though. I also do believe that if given free reign to use euthanasia that some of the people that the "world" considers to be unable to contribute to society will be open to possible death at the hands of "medicine".

Answer 2

There seems to be some confusion. Euthanasia, as relates to humans, refers to the assisted suicide of an extremly ill person. It does not refer to murdering the infirm against their wishes. Personally, if someone is in such pain that they actually wish to die, we either need to relieve that pain or comply with their wishes. Moral crusaders seem awfully willing to take away the right of a person to decide the course of their own life. Oh, and everyone should have a living will in case they are in a situation like that Schiavo woman.

Answer 3

I'd prefer nopt to be kept alive in an unnatural state dependant upon machines, but that's not euthanasia, it's DNR (do not rescucitate)

Answer 4

I look at it this way:

I love my cat enough that if I saw it was in pain, and dying, and there was nothing I could do to help it, I would put it to sleep.
Thus...
If I, as a person, was dying, and had expressed written or verbal consent to the same treatment, I would expect it to be carried out.
Call it my last wish.
Why is it okay to request that you not be put on life support, but it's not okay to ask for help to die with dignity?

Answer 5

Euthenasia doesn't only mean the "able bodied" are the only ones allowed to live. What tom-foolery.

Euthenasia means putting a being to death "for its own good." This may refer to putting a dog down. It MIGHT refer to killing everyone who isn't able bodied (but this has limited use outside of Nazi germany!) In general terms it means that those without hope are allowed to die. Someone who is in pain and dying slowly of cancer for instance, would be allowed to die.

Answer 6

If I'm dying or become a vegetable, I'd rather die quickly and painlessly than suffer through weeks, months, or years of pain and agony while watching a doctor or nurse come by every few minutes to hook another IV bag up to me and give me that BS line of "Oh you're doing fine." just before they check my clipboard and shake their head.

Answer 7

I am against euthanasia. First, it's murder. Second, it's the way Hitler was going.

Answer 8

Euthanasia, sometimes called “mercy killing,” can be a difficult issue. On one hand, we do not want to take a person’s life into our own hands and end it prematurely. On the other hand, we do not want to prolong the process of dying more than necessary—that is, we want to preserve life, but not prolong death. At what point do we simply allow a person to die and take no further action to extend his or her life?

A related issue is that of assisted suicide. Essentially, a person seeking assisted suicide is seeking to euthanize himself, with the aid of another person to ensure that death is quick and painless. The person assisting the suicide facilitates death by making preparations and furnishing the needed equipment; but the person seeking death is the one who actually initiates the process. By taking a “hands-off” approach to the death itself, the facilitator seeks to avoid charges of murder. Proponents of assisted suicide try for a positive spin by using terms like “death with dignity.” But “death with dignity” is still death, “assisted suicide” is still suicide, and suicide is wrong.

We live in what is sometimes described as a “culture of death.” Abortion on demand has been practiced for decades. Now some are seriously proposing infanticide. And euthanasia is promoted as a viable means of solving various social and financial problems. This focus on death as an answer to the world’s problems is a total reversal of the biblical model. Death is an enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26). Life is a sacred gift from God (Genesis 2:7). When given the choice between life and death, God told Israel to “choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Euthanasia spurns the gift and embraces the curse.

The overriding truth that God is sovereign drives us to the conclusion that euthanasia and assisted suicide are wrong. We know that physical death is inevitable for us mortals (Psalm 89:48; Hebrews 9:27). However, God alone is sovereign over when and how a person’s death occurs. Job testifies in Job 30:23, “I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.” Ecclesiastes 8:8 declares, “No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death.” God has the final say over death (see 1 Corinthians 15:26, 54–56; Hebrews 2:9, 14–15; Revelation 21:4). Euthanasia and assisted suicide are man’s attempts to usurp that authority from God.

Death is a natural occurrence. Sometimes God allows a person to suffer for a long time before death occurs; other times, a person’s suffering is cut short. No one enjoys suffering, but that does not make it right to determine that a person should die. Often, God’s purposes are made known through suffering. “When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other” (Ecclesiastes 7:14). Romans 5:3 teaches that tribulations bring about perseverance. God cares about those who cry out for death and wish to end their suffering. God gives purpose in life even to the end. Only God knows what is best, and His timing, even in the matter of one’s death, is perfect.

We should never seek to prematurely end a life, but neither must we go to extraordinary means to preserve a life. To actively hasten death is wrong; to passively withhold treatment can also be wrong; but to allow death to occur naturally in a terminally ill person is not necessarily wrong. Anyone facing this issue should pray to God for wisdom (James 1:5). And we should all remember the words of former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who warned that the practice of medicine “cannot be both our healer and our killer” (from KOOP, The Memoirs of America’s Family Doctor by C. Everett Koop, M.D., Random House, 1991).

http://www.gotquestions.org/euthanasia.html

Answer 9

some are 4 it because they want the choice of living/ dying when struck by a fatal disease. others r against it because there are so many mistakes that could b made if it became legal and because a doctor's role is to heal so killing some1 isn't exactly in the job description.

Answer 10

Consider the loss if the able bodied simply put any and all disabled or infirmed to 'sleep'...Just the loss of someone like Stephen Hawking would be unmeasurable.