“Euthanasia as a Contradictory Issue”
Sometimes we get lucky, we have good health, and we live our life, accomplish our goals, grow old and die satisfied. Others times we are not so lucky. Some people get stuck with diseases in which they can’t cure. They suffer with debts and physical and emotional pain. Sometimes we grow up healthy but later end up with misfortune leaving them paralyzed, disable and/or in a vegetative state. We must ask ourselves what we would do in this position. Should Euthanasia meaning physician assisted suicide be an option? It is not only about saying yes or no to death; this choice involves many legal and ethical arguments. This is controversial argument between the rights to die vs. the right to live, but because of certain views it becomes the right of suicide vs. the right to kill. Should we be given the right to choose between life and death, and should someone else be allowed to assist us in this choice? Every person should be responsible for his/her own live. Everyone should have all the freedom in deciding whether a suicide is the best option in that moment or not.

According to Professor Keown, “ Euthanasia rather narrowly as the active, intentional termination of a patient’s life by a doctor whothinks that death is a benefit to that patient”(397) The act of euthanasia is not accepting or declining to assisted death. There is far more to it. There are many different kinds of euthanasia. Voluntary is the first type. This type of euthanasia is when a person request to be killed. The person voluntary ask to be killed, and it is their sole choice. For example, if a person is in extreme pain for long time and medication does nothing, they might give up. If they have been in pain for a long time, and their illness is incurable, they may no longer want to live. They request euthanasia. By dying they feel their suffering will finally end. Another type is non-voluntary. This type is when the patient’s life is deemed by others to be not worth living, in which measures intended to end life are carried out against the wishes of a competent patient (Keown, John 400). At this time the person is not requested death. They did not ask a doctor/ physician to assist in death but they were killed anyways. Physician assisted suicide is what the big controversy here is. This is when the doctor helps their patients kill themselves. The patient no longer want to live therefore asks to end suffering.
Although there are many arguments against euthanasia thereare also many arguments for euthanasia. One argument is that euthanasia provides a way to relieve extreme pain (Dr. Maisie). This is considered mercy killing. According to Everett Koop legalizing euthanasia would help relieve suffering of terminal patients. It is considered inhumane and extremely unfair to force a person to endure unbearable pain when there pain medicine is not working. Many people believe that if someone has had suffered for years and years of extreme pain then they should be given the right to die. Although death is not the solution to extreme pain, in that case that someone is suffering from an incurable disease with no treatment and extreme pain then they should be given the liberty to choose induced death. People believe it is their choice to live or die. They are the ones suffering and no one should have the rights to another’s body.

5- La eutanasia no es solicitada por personas libres, sino casi siempre por personas deprimidas, mental o emocionalmente trastornadas

Cuando uno esta sólo, anciano, enfermo, paralítico tras un accidente es facil sufrir ansiedad y depresión que llevan a querer morir. En un país sin eutanasia, los médicos y terapeutas se esfuerzan por curar esta depresión, devolver las ganas de vivir y casi siempre tienen éxito si el entorno ayuda. Por el contrario, en un país con eutanasia, en vez de esforzarse por eliminar la depresión se tiende a eliminar al deprimido 'porque lo pide'.

6- La eutanasia no es un derecho humano, no esta recogido en el Convenio Europeo de Derechos Humanos, ni en ningún código de derecho.

Según el Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos, en el caso de Dianne Pretty en el año 2002, no existe el derecho a procurarse la muerte, ya sea de manos de un tercero o con asistencia de autoridades públicas. El derecho a la autonomía personal no es superior al deber de los Estados de amparar la vida de los individuos bajo su jurisdicción.

7- La eutanasia, como el suicidio, es contagiosa

Una vez una persona deprimida se suicida, otras personas deprimidas de su entorno pueden copiar su comportamiento con mas facilidad. Esto es así en suicidios con o sinasistencia, lo cual incluye la eutanasia.

8- La eutanasia dificulta el trabajo de los terapeutas que trabajan con minusvalidos, deprimidos, enfermos

Las personas que ayudan a otros a vivir con una grave minusvalía o en duras circunstancias ven su trabajo saboteado por la otra opción, la eutanasia, que legalizada aparece con atractiva insistencia como una salida facil para el enfermo.

9- La eutanasia tendera a eliminar a los mas pobres y débiles

Como el aborto, la eutanasia tendera a hacerse especialmente accesible y promocionada entre las clases económicamente mas débiles, los grupos étnicos desfavorecidos, etc Al desatenderse la oferta en cuidados paliativos, éstos seran un lujo sólo para gente con medios adquisitivos.

10- La eutanasia legal no impedira las eutanasias ilegales, sino que las potenciara

Como en el caso del aborto, aprobar una ley que permite la eutanasia 'con todos los controles que haga falta' no impedira que se extienda el fraude de ley, los permisos escritos sin examinar al paciente, la laxitud en la aplicación de la ley y el fraude de ley generalizado.

Con todo, el mejor argumento contra la eutanasia siempre sera el testimonio de miles de hombres y mujeres en circunstancias dificilísimas que, apoyandose mutuamente, con la ayuda de sus valores, su familia, amigos o profesionales demuestran día a día que la dignidad del hombre les lleva a vivir y enriquecer la vida de otros.