The Concept of Death in Euthanasia

The concept of death has always been viewed as a scary, taboo aspect of life, which is often overlooked. To bring up death is seen as inappropriate and therefore many people rather not speak of it at all, neglecting the fact that the terms in which one dies are as important as the terms in which they lived. Thousands of sick people around the world face a dilemma with death; they are not allowed to approach it under their own terms as they are forced to go through medical treatment that is only prolonging the inevitable.

They are forced to suffer through the treatment to what may be an untreatable disease, as they do not have any other safe escape from the pain. However, if the medical procedure of Euthanasia would be established, patients would be able to die in a virtually painless manner, and more importantly, they would be able to face death on their own terms. Euthanasia is a medical procedure involving the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease through the administration of drugs.

This process is illegal in all of the United States as in the purest definition of the procedure; a physician or another third party administers the drugs to the patient, causing it to conflict with some of the legal regulations dealing with homicide. This issue has caused a very similar procedure of euthanasia to develop, Physician—Assisted Suicide or PAD for short. PAD is very similar to the traditional sense of euthanasia as the physician still assists in the suicide of a terminally ill patient, usually by supplying them with a lethal drug, but the patients administer the drug to themselves.

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This procedure is given as an option to terminally ill patients who do not have any cure in sight. In an article by the New Health Guide, it is reported that only seven countries and some parts of the United States offer PDA. Belgium, Colombia, India, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, offer full Euthanasia while Montana, Washington, Colorado, Vermont, Oregon and Bernalillo County, New Mexico in the US have PDA programs to aid those suffering with terminal diseases.

They allow their patients to take control of their treatment by giving them the ultimate choice of avoiding the treatment and suffering altogether and giving them a chance to go when they want to. Euthanasia has proven to be a blessing to many patients who have been unfortunately been diagnosed with a terminal disease. As described in Mars Cramer’s article in the Washington post “Euthanasia was the right decision for my wife” euthanasia proved to be the only salvation for the authors wife Mathilde. She at the age of seventy»one was diagnosed with Waldenstrom‘s disease, a rare cancer of the bone marrow that “impedes and eventually destroys the production of vital components of the blood supply.” She fought the disease for seven years until the cancer became aggressive and attacked the leukocytes, causing her to have basically no immune system to combat bacteria. One small infection and it will lead her to certain death, for Mathilde this idea was intolerable. Fortunately, she lived in the Netherlands were Euthanasia is legal, and was able to determine when it was her time.

Instead of going through several painful blood transfusions, she instead said farewell to all her family and proceeded to pass when she was ready. The legalization of a euthanasia procedure will reap innumerous benefits to not only the patient, but also to those close around them. As described in a Medical News Today article by Christian Nordqvist, this procedure will grant the patient more control over their life, enhancing the freedom of choice many Americans hold very clearly to their patriotism. The article continues to state that this procedure will allow the patient to die with more dignity, less suffering, and less concern to what their family had to witness if the patient would of be left to suffer and die slowly. Euthanasia will also grant the patient the ability to make peace with their death, and say goodbye to loved ones in the proper way, and eases the weight of sadness their death brings. Furthermore, the lives of those who people who suffer with terminal diseases are not full lives, most patients cannot wait for death to save them from the agonizing pain they feel every morning both physical and mental.

Not being able to walk, talk, bathe, eat, sleep or even urinate under their own control is devastating to any self-respecting human, and to let someone experience that is inhumane. According to a gallop poll performed by Statistic Brain Research Institute on March 18″‘,2015, it is shown that out of one-thousand and one people asked ” Generally speaking, do you support or oppose legalizing euthanasia in the US?” a whopping forty-two percent said that they supported it, with twenty-eight percent of those supporters being strong supporters of the practice. The numbers do not lie; there is a strong support group behind Euthanasia/PAD legalization. The legalization of these procedures will allow citizens to have even more control over their lives instead of being under the grip of the physician. Euthanasia or PAD are the most humane ways for patients to die, rather than having to suffer treatments that cause several side effects and only prolong and worsen the death of the patient. These procedures need to be legalized in order to enhance the quality of death of our loved ones, and maybe one day, ourselves.