Introduction
Euthanasia is a very controversial topic between lawmakers, the medical community, and even the philosophical communities worldwide. Obviously, if lawmakers and the medical community in the United States can come to an agreement that euthanasia should be legalized in this country, there should be restrictions that go along with a patient being euthanized. To clarify, I will say that for the interest of this essay, anyone should have the right to be euthanized and voluntary active euthanasia should be considered morally permissible. This should only be the case if the patient has been diagnosed with a deadly disease that has no way of being cured and if they pass the mental health evaluation that shows they are not just subsiding to this process just to end their lives for no reason. Some examples of the diseases that should be considered could be diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease or ALS), or metastatic cancers that have spread all over the body and have no way of being cured at this point by chemotherapy or radiation.
Also, to further the information needed for this paper, we must say that the euthanasia discussed in this paper is active voluntary euthanasia, where medical intervention takes place, at the patient’s request, in order to end the patient’s life. I believe that active voluntary euthanasia should be considered morally permissible and should be legalized in the United States. Euthanasia could assist those who wish to choose to not be a burden either financially or physically to their families, who believe they should be allowed the right to their own bodies, and that are experiencing unbearable pain that is decreasing their quality of life. Most people argue that euthanasia could lead to a slippery slope and could make others who are healthy want to find a way to be euthanized, I have found that actually only one in three people actually take the euthanasia medicine prescribed by their physician. The point is not that people should be allowed to just take their own lives, it is the point that these people who are suffering should be allowed to choose when their life ends instead of the disease they are battling takes their life first.
Burden to their Families
No patient that is battling for their life should have to feel as though they are just a burden financially, physically, or emotionally on their families. According to a 2011 report from the U.S. National Library of Medicine, the average cost of someone receiving treatment for lung cancer was $5,074. This was just the price of the medical bills, not the price of the funeral after the chemotherapy did not work and the patient ended up dying or the counseling they had to attend during their battle with cancer because they could not handle all of the emotions. With euthanasia, if these people know there is no way they can recover and that has been signed off by a doctor, they can reduce the amount of bills that will be left for their families to pay once they are dead. This could help with the patients feeling as though they are a burden to their families.
Brittany Maynard was a strong advocate for the United States legalizing voluntary active euthanasia. Maynard could not bear to be a burden on her family, and after speaking with her family about her options, she chose voluntary active euthanasia and died peacefully on her own time. When asked about her decision, before her death, Maynard stated “I’m choosing to suffer less. To put myself and my family through less pain.” Not only did Brittany have to feel like she was a burden because of her condition, she also had to put her family in an uncomfortable situation because in order to even die with dignity, she had to move from her home in California to a new house in Oregon just to get permission to die. Someone could argue that because euthanasia is not legal in all states, it puts a burden on those who wish to end their lives because they have to pack everything up and move to a whole new state just to get their last wishes and end their suffering.
Also, some could argue that euthanasia should be legalized because of the socioeconomic factors that come with someone wanting to be euthanized. Without legalization, almost all insurance companies in the United States will not cover euthanasia. This is very unfair because euthanasia could cost anywhere from $400 for a powered drug to $5,000 for an injection. This puts the patient in a distressing situation because if they want to be euthanized and their insurance does not cover it, they have to pay out of pocket just to die with dignity and to end their life before their quality of life gets too unbearable.
Some opponents to this issue believe that those who feel like a burden to their families are only being selfish in deciding to end their lives and are not thinking about the amount of pain their death will cause their families. However, after reviewing some interviews from families whose loved ones were voluntarily euthanized, the University of Michigan’s philosophical research department found that there was a “much greater degree of respect and acceptance for the patient's decision than would be the case in the more usual sort of suicide.” This could be due to the fact that these patients are not asking to end their lives simply because they just want to die; these patients are choosing to end their lives to avoid all of the mental and physical pain they will go through at the end of their lives.
Right to their Bodies
This is one of the most popular arguments for euthanasia, and in my opinion it is the most relevant. Someone could argue that the United States gives women the right to their own bodies when it comes to the issue of abortion, so they should give patients who are terminally ill the right to their own bodies when it comes to euthanasia. If we legalize one, we must seriously consider legalizing the other because in the end both arguments are about people wanting the right to their own body. The United States is almost going against their own Constitution because in Roe v. Wade the court determined that as citizens, you do have a right to privacy when it comes to your own body; therefore, the government should not technically be allowed to step in and prevent someone from ending their life when it comes to voluntary active euthanasia. As Roe v. Wade helped to set some laws on abortions and decide when abortions should be legal or illegal, I believe that if the United States government could discuss this matter within itself and a professional medical board, a conclusion could be made and euthanasia could be legalized to some extent and with some boundaries in the United States.
Also, patients could argue that they should be allowed to be euthanized because there are laws in place that say a patient is allowed to refuse medical treatment in any way. Some patients may think that if some patients can refuse medical treatment to help themselves get better, the patients who will not recover from their illness should be allowed to say they want to peacefully end their own life. On the Death with Dignity organization’s website, it shows ideas of how you can voluntarily end your own life without having a traumatic death. Some of these ways could be starving oneself or to refuse treatment altogether. In my opinion, this was very heartbreaking to see because someone should not have to starve themselves or die of dehydration just because their government will not legalize their right to their own body.
However, some could argue that even though the government has Roe v. Wade and has legalized abortion, it is unethical to legalize euthanasia because the fetus is not actually a person and does not have consciousness to know they are being killed. Even though this could be a valid argument, I do not believe this could be enough to say that someone should not be allowed to be actively voluntarily euthanized because the person is fully conscious (and if the medical personnel follow the law, the person is in an acceptable mental state where they know the consequences of their actions) and they know what they are asking for and what the outcome of this will be.
Unbearable Pain
Those who are against legalizing euthanasia may argue that “unbearable pain” should not be an argument for euthanasia because the United States has the medical assistance available to help with someone’s pain. However, according to an article in the U.S. National Library of Medicine by José Pereira from the University of Ottawa, he found that only about 10%–15% of pain and other physical symptoms can be controlled by palliative care. Basically, the only other way to help with these symptoms would be palliative sedation, and most patients for euthanasia would say that they would rather die than to just become sedated for the remainder of their life.
Going back to the story regarding Brittany Maynard, her husband said in an interview that the morning that Maynard passed away, she was woken up by a seizure. In the weeks before her death, her seizures and intense headaches had become more frequent and more excruciating. Maynard’s husband, Dan Diaz, claimed that Brittany just knew it was her time on that day and decided to take the medicine. She died peacefully in the comfort of her home surrounded by friends and family. According to the death-with-dignity laws set in Oregon, Maynard had to be fully capable of drinking the medicine herself. So when the seizures were becoming more frequent and intense, she knew eventually she could lose motor or cognitive function and would be “trapped in her own body” without the ability to take the medicine.
Some could argue that those with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia should not be allowed to be euthanized because they are not actually in pain. However, according to Wilco P. Achterberg from the Leiden University Medical Center, 50% of those with Alzheimer’s or dementia experience regular pain. Also, we have to keep in mind that while that statistic only talks about physical pain, there is a lot of mental anguish that goes along with these diseases. Those who are diagnosed know that there is absolutely no way to reverse their condition or cure their disease. After diagnosis, they face the uncertainty of not knowing how much time they have left and when they will lose all of their memory. It’s sad to think that someone who is diagnosed with something like this is just left to die because there is no cure and euthanasia is not currently legal in all parts of the United States.
Conclusion
In conclusion, anyone should have the right to be euthanized and voluntary active euthanasia should be considered morally permissible. This, again, should only be the case if the patient has been diagnosed with a terminal or deadly illness that has no way of being cured and also if they pass the mental health evaluation that shows they are not just subsiding to this process just to end their lives for no reason. I also believe that before a patient is given the approval to be euthanized, they should have to have a second opinion from a different medical professional so that there is a definite diagnosis. The people that choose to be euthanized are not “taking the easy way out” or being cowardly, rather they could be either wanting to not become a burden on their families, they want to have a right to their own bodies, or they want to end or prevent their unbearable pain they will face.
While some argue that the people who choose to end their lives with euthanasia are only thinking about themselves, I believe that if we can come to an agreement about the legalization of euthanasia in the United States we can come up with ways to help and support the people who want to be euthanized. Again, these people do not wish to die just simply because they want to end their lives; rather, they choose to die because they want to be able to die with dignity and end the pain they are going through. Until you are put into a situation where you have to decide if your quality of life is more important than the quantity of your life, I do not believe you should be able to say what the laws should be on the matter.