Euthanasia
Euthanasia
By Punkerslut
Euthanasia has often been referred to as a "mercy killing,"
ending another's life to prevent them from suffering any more of
life's ills. But more than that, it has always been held as a
sad good-bye, providing material for haunting nightmares, the
act of the killing itself just as necessary as death is to life.
The sight of our loved one, slowly passing away from this world,
with little hope, will forever be remembered. When the darkness
basks our world in night, and those evil thoughts that taunted
during the day come out, when we have no one, we will be forced
to face the question: did the experiences of our beloved amount
to what they would have called a "good life"? How will I answer
this question when I am finally on that last breath? Anyone who
has ever known a loved one to be in suffering, to be enduring
great misery -- pains that no anesthetic can touch, hurt that no
physican can cure, ailment that no medicine will alleviate --
anyone who has known such a loved one can find no objection to
Euthanasia. No one's heart will rely on philosophical arguments
or social rules when they hear the screams of their children, or
their parents, crying for relief from the horrors of life. It
does not go to the questions asked by Socrates or Plato or Hume,
but it goes to the answers needed by the heart and the soul --
it is not a matter of the opinion developed over the course of
thousands of years, but a matter of how we learn to see the pain
of others.
I support Euthanasia, but I do so only on account that I have
heard the screams of the suffering, I have felt the trembling
hands of those in agony. I have seen things that have turned a
savage to a tumult of tears. This world has envisioned many
cruelties in all sorts of manifestations. When a person is
forced to live their life, their face ablaze with all the signs
of pain -- tears, grimacing, panting -- and when they must live
their life like this, day after day, week after week, month
after month, nothing but pain and then more pain -- what is this
existence? Is it life with dignity? But throw the question of
dignity and respect asside. When a person is suffering greatly,
and there is nothing to cure their distress, and when, finally,
they prefer non-existence to the life they are living, why at
all should we deny them their right to death? What brutal and
vicious justification can defend the idea that we must make them
suffer? Whatever the justification, it will not come from the
mouth of the person in great suffering -- it will not come from
those who must listen to the screams of these cursed with life
everyday. There are two reasons why any person would defende
Euthanasia: reason dictates it, or their own experience with it.
When an individual's life consists of days of suffering,
sleeping in a bed of tears, waking with the taste of blood in
your mouth, and there is the chance to end their suffering by
ending their life -- when this happens, life becomes infinitely
simple and infinitely complex: Consumerist desires for a car, a
television set, or some such, these desires die, but in their
place, we know that someone we love is in terrible misery and we
know there is a way to end it. It certainly is not an easy
decision, but those euthanizing their greatest friends will be
the first to say it is the right one.
After the decision to allow a severely brain damaged child to
die was reached, one paediatric neurologist commented...
"The easy option was to continue the artificial feeding in the
hope that perhaps nature would take its course at some later
date and absolve us of any responsibility from making a decision
"I believe that was wrong. I think we as a society and we as
doctors need to consider where we draw the line -- at what point
does medicine become inhumane and simply prolong suffering."
[Taken from an article by David Fletcher, The Daily Telegraph,
13 May, 1996. Quoted in Teach Yourself: Ethics, New Edition, by
Mel Thompson, page 65.]
In 1973, George Zygmaniak was injured in a Motorcycle accident
in New Jersey. He was totally paralyzed from the neck down. He
begged his doctor and his brother Lester to kill him. The
hospital told Lester that the chances of recovery were very
unlikely. Lester smuggled a gun into the hospital, where he said
to his brother: "I am here to end your pain, George. Is it all
right with you?" George, unable to speak because of an
operation, nodded. Lester shot his brother through the temple.
[Act of Love, by Paige Mitchell, New York, 1976. Also, the New
York Times, 1, 3, and 6 of November, 1973.] Spina Bifida is a
condition that occurs to infants, where the spine and the spinal
cord are not fully formed. In some instances, it will
permanently paralyze the child from waist down. They will lack
bladder or bowel controls. In other cases, intellectual
disabilities will develop, due to excess fluid accumulating in
the brain. For these sufferers to be kept alive, they must have
major surgery often, sometimes forty times before the individual
has reached the adolescent years. This is, of course, given the
fact that the infant survives.
These are cases where I Euthanasia have been used. One of the
primary arguments against Euthanasia is that it degrades human
life, that it is always wrong and immoral to end another human's
life, no matter what the circumstances. To these people, I ask
them to hold their friend's trembling hand, as they go through
months and possibly years of life, suffering, pleading always
that someone will take away their misery. To these people, I ask
them to try to raise a child with the disability of Spina
Bifida, to wake up every morning to see your own child struggle
with the immense suffering overcoming them -- almost monthly to
take them to the hospital so that they can have a major surgery
-- everyday to see a disease wreak havoc on the body of your
child, as it becomes more and more debilitating. To anyone who
believes that "human dignity," or any insane version of this
concept, is more important than a suffering person's right to
end their own existence, I ask them to go through the experience
of knowing a friend whose existence is no more than pain -- to
know the meaning of suffering, told through unstable eyes,
forever imprisoned in the jail of misery. I will offer my
brotherhood and justice to any being that can feel emotions. If
a person is in great suffering and there is no outlook for
improvement upon the horizon, and they wish to end their own
life, then I see no reason at all to deny them this right. I
could not care less if this violates any principle of "human
dignity" or some such nonsense -- I will stand by my friends and
loved ones no matter what they go through; justice is something
I will never abandon. To those who speak of "human dignity" as
an opposite of Euthanasia, it is irrelevant. Those people are
suffering from debilitating diseases and wish for their lives to
end, the "human dignity" argument holds no credibility.
Euthanasia will effectively prevent unnecessary suffering. To
deny it, we are only being instruments to pain. Literally, this
would be an act of cruelty.
Another argument against Euthanasia may be it is no different
than suicide in general. If a person suffers from great mental
pain, in that they find themselves with no allies in this
wretched world, that they see themselves in the future as having
led an empty existence, if a person suffers from such mental
pain, how is it different from allowing them to kill themselves
as opposed to Euthanasia for diseases? The simple fact is this:
it is not different. If a person does find themself in the
position where there is no prospect for hope, no dim, struggling
light in the horizon of the future, and they are so willing and
desirable as to end their own life, then by every right, they
ought to be allowed to. Do I believe that suicide is
permissible? Of course. I believe that every person has every
right to govern their own body. I do believe, however, in
responsibility. Simply existing does not give any person a
responsibility. They are not obligated to the world, nor its
inhabitants. Having a family, bringing children into this world,
having friends -- this does create a responsibility. But the
greatest of friends will know when their colleague suffers from
the torture of misery, and they will know when the time is right
to release their grip from their friend's hand, and let them
leave this world peacefully. The man who populates this world
with widows and neglected children is not noble in the least,
nor is he admirable. But there must be understanding that a
person who ends their own life, who has faced that which is the
greatest of all fears, whether or not they abandon children in
their actions, that they found their life so unbareable, that it
was possible for them to end it all -- whether weeping children
would be the result or not. I am not saying that such a man is
admirable, but that such a man was under great distress. Suicide
is not something that can be spoken of lightly, especially when
it is a plague of the mind that causes the person to end their
own existence.
Death -- it is essentially the center premise of both
Euthanasia and suicide. After millions of years of adaptation
and evolution, the stronger of the humans surviving while the
weaker ones die and are unable to reproduce, humans are now born
with a strong sense of survival. But it's not just humans. Every
creature on this planet fears death most of all. It is a natural
instinct to fear death or suffering of any sort. These instincts
cannot be denied, but everything we do must deal with their
conflict as they alter our attitudes. It is extremely difficult
for some people to physically harm themselves, not because the
pain is unbareable, but because of the psychological attitude of
it all. Then consider a man whose life is full of nothing but
pain and anguish, and then consider what emotions, what
instincts and natural feelings, that he must overcome to
complete the deed of death -- such a man who is capable of doing
what he knows must be done is worthy of the admiration of every
humane and rational person. Say what you will of how our society
views suicide as ugly. The public opinion of what is beautiful
and what isn't could interest me less. When a person knows what
they want, their desires harm none, and they allow nothing to
get in their way -- their personal feelings or instincts, then
they are a person full of courage and bravery. And though it may
be sad that a person passes away from this world, leaving behind
nothing more than a lifeless body, it is something we must learn
to face: that some people are unhappy no matter what crowd they
are among or what land they are living in. I wish the best of
luck to the advancement of psychology and treatments to ailments
of the mind, but I will in no way ask any person to prolong
their own suffering for a cure that may not come at all.
The primary argument for Euthanasia is the argument of Rights
-- that a person may do what they want, as long as they harm
none. When a person ends their own existence, they are not
directly causing pain to another person. It is true that some
people may be sadenned in this world that they are without the
presence of another person, another voice for a thriving
democratic community. It is true, too, that every humane person
will be find one less reason to be hopeful, when this world as
it is could appease one less soul. And, if it were practical,
for us that eve of loss would be spent picking a flower and
sitting atop a hill, allowing the winds to blow the petals to a
place unforeseen -- a sort of thoughtfulness that can exist
without religion. A person is their own body, and they may do
with themselves what they will. I believe in freedom and I
believe in liberty. If a person finds that their own existence
is one of ceaseless toil and unending pain, following by
disappointment and the mutilation of everything that is near and
dear to them, then let them kill themselves, do not deny them
the razor or the gun or the poison -- their life is their own,
and their decisions are their own to make. If a person wishes to
be a gardner, or to watch the stars, or to play in the grass,
then let them. If what they want to do is the most ridiculous or
obscure of activities, it is not up to us to judge. What makes a
person happy is up to their own soul's will. We cannot limit
them and their actions, as their life is their own. Similarly,
if a person wishes to end that life which they have been
bestowed upon by this Universe, then that is their decision, and
no other person ought to be able to interfere.
I believe in Euthanasia, in its necessity in a world full of
pain and misery. I do not wish for a world that is so terrible
where everyone is ending their own lives, but rather, I wish for
a world where suffering will never reach that extent. I know my
wishes are almost naive, though, as it will be impossible for
such a world to come about. Even if we are to alleviate most
medical problems, there will always be those afflicted with
unhappiness, due to the failure of relationships, or simply a
psychological disorder of some sort. I believe in any person's
right to suicide or Euthanasia, primarly because I believe in
rights. To those who disagree, I ask them to go through an
ordeal where their friend suffers greatly, and beckons death to
come closer. Suffering is a horrid thing, and my defense of
Euthanasia and suicide is only on the grounds that I recognize
misery for what it is: something detested by all conscious life.
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