Problems of Euthanasia - Report Example

EUTHANASIA or mercy killing continuously brings about arguments.  Clemency is a common subject in various debates.  Taking one’s life because of pity incessantly leads to a variety of contentions.  It is normally an issue about religion, and personal conviction, which, at the same time gives rise to legal aspects as well.  Often, one may find himself perplexed between the idea of assisting in ending someone’s misery or putting up with his faith that nobody but God could take away one’s life.  Pro-life supporters are doing their best to object to the issue, and at this immediate moment, it can be said that there are more people who are against it, than those who have learned to accept it.

The physician’s decisiveness to truly take part in his patient’s “assisted suicide” is not surprising at all. It may have been compassion, as it is incontestably strenuous to see the patient suffer from day to day, along with his wife’s pleading that the doctor finally submitted to their insistence. It is not easy, however, to take chances and act upon something which could actually cost someone’s career.  Is it not ironic, to do something that feels right---and be condemned about it?

The uncertainty of the nurse whether to report the physician or not was also understandable.  Her word of warning that she will be reporting to the authorities should the doctor push through with his idea in many ways, made her not accountable for his actions.  She was evidently against it, though she was not in opposition to its upshot, but who would actually be opposed to the picture of releasing someone from suffering?

Definitely, the nurse had done the right thing, on the legal aspect.  However, such indecision whether the doctor’s action must be reported signifies her doubt in her personal viewpoint.  Hence, she evidently had the same feeling with regard to ending the man’s life and grief.  And had the issue of assisted suicide been legalized, it is most likely that the nurse would also change her conviction about it.  At times, the notion of doing the right thing is judged against what is allowed by the law.  For this reason, the controversy of legalizing mercy killing would always be as contentious as other hot subjects like abortion, divorce, same-sex marriage, and other societal concerns that involve personal and moral questions. Certainly, it is not easy to decide whether we should accept the idea of mercy killing or not.  It is too easy to conclude that it is legally inappropriate.  Nevertheless, as we look closer at those who need it, it would not be that simple.  It is said that you would never know what it is like not until you go through it.  Then, if that is true, why would some specialists risk their jobs just to liberate a sick man from his agony? 

Despite all these, and in the face of the realization that God alone can take a man’s life, I do think there are circumstances that truly call for mercy killing.  It may be wrong, for none of us has the right to play God, but maybe, just maybe, a God who is forgiving and merciful would actually understand.  Mercy killing, sometimes, is not an act of killing, but a difficult undertaking in helping someone who voluntarily wants to end his life.  Even so, not all cases could be defensible, for miracles, at times, do happen.  But perhaps, if we would try to picture ourselves as the ones who are in terrible anguish, would we not consider death a miracle?

The issue of “socially acceptable” means of killing does not validate everything else, for what difference does “snowing” actually make?  It is but a question of embracing the idea of mercy killing or no mercy killing at all.  If one does not accept euthanasia as a suitable option to bring one’s torment to an end, snowing does not make it atypical.  It is an issue of letting go and hanging on; or a subject of ending and prolonging a person’s distress. 

“In the present climate of opinion, it is easy to imagine a doctor giving a lethal dose of pain-killing drug and then claiming that death was the best way to eliminate physical suffering. If the doctor could also show that the patient had requested the lethal dosage, the court might well interpret the law in the doctor's favor,” (If Mercy Killing Becomes Legal).  Really, not everything that is legal is morally or ethically tolerable---and not all that is constrained by legal boundaries are iniquitous.