Imagine you’re awaiting another follow up at the doctor’s office. You’re greeted by the nurse in the typical way, and patiently take your seat in the waiting room. There’s a television on in the background spewing facts about the dangers of eating unhealthy and fatty foods, the benefits of exercise, and tips on how to begin working out. Eventually the nurse calls you into the next room, where you now sit on the loud sterilized paper on top of a padded bench. Looking around you see the eye testing chart, a mannequin of the human body, and a bunch of medical textbooks. Eventually the doctor comes in and says “I’ve got some bad new. You have cancer.” Your life is instantly altered and your future as you knew it has now disappeared.
Cancer, ALS, Alzheimer’s, AIDS, Parkinson’s, these are all diseases that are diagnosed to people around the world every day, and these diseases can lead people to a great deal of pain and an imminent premature death. Most people in the world these days either are affected, or know somebody who is affected by one of these diseases. It is something that completely changes their life. Most of these diseases eventually lead to the patient spending the end of their life in a hospital bed, often times in pain and anguish, both physically and emotionally. In many cases the constant day to day physical pain is just too much, and the patients wish for anything that could help cease the pain. This includes death. Who has the right to tell this patient, ‘I’m sorry, but you’ll just have to live with the pain as long as you’re alive’ all while the doctors in the hospital do what is necessary to keep the patient alive? This completely denies the patient any legitimate long term option of avoiding constant pain. Denying them this option is cruelty. It is knowingly not just adhering to, but pursuing the patient’s pain. It is the patient’s life, the patient’s pain and suffering, and it should be the patients choice of how to address the issue. If there is no solution to the constant pain, the patient should have the option to decide to be euthanized.
A 2010 report for the President’s Cancer Panel that reports directly to the President of the United States estimated that roughly 41 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in their lifetime. Forty-one percent is almost half of all people, an astonishing figure. It is also estimated that roughly 21 percent of people will die from cancer. One in five people will die from cancer. People need to realize that these situations many others find themselves in where they are pursuing euthanasia, are not uncommon, and they will be more common as our generation ages. It is not particularly unlikely that you will not find yourself in this situation. Surely, yes this can be a scary realization, but luckily many treatments are becoming more and more successful for many different types of cancer. Still, the issue needs to be addressed for those patients who cannot be cured or treated to rid the cancer or the pain.
It is the human way that when we see an animal or insect suffering in pain, we try to do what we can to end the pain. Most often the people that come across these situations aren’t capable of, and do not have the resources needed to help save these animals. What is socially considered to be the humane thing to do, is commonly referred to as “put it out of it’s misery”. I believe we have this mentality towards lesser forms of life because they’re not capable of understanding the biggest question of ‘why’ they may have found themselves in that situation. Whether it be an animal struck by a car, or a bear caught in a trap, the animal does not know why it is not left in pain and dying. We feel more sympathy because of that factor. Why do we treat our own race with such a cruel outlook of not being allowed to “put them out of their misery”? We are more knowledgeable and even understand the context of the situation we have found ourselves in. Those who are looking for euthanasia surely have been aware of their situation for a long time and have had a great deal of time to review their options. Having logically thought out their future, and decided that they would like to be put out of their misery, we don’t allow it. It almost seems that the denial of this option should be illegal, not the allowance of it.
Many of these diseases I’ve mentioned will often take away the patient’s autonomy, or their ability to make decisions or choices. If you even think you can put yourself in that situation, of not being able to make any decisions for yourself, you then have to wonder, what kind of quality of life is that? It would hardly mean you’re alive. Yes you’re breathing and your heart is beating (maybe not even on their own, but by machines) but you would not be able to enjoy your everyday life. The option of euthanasia leaves patients with the control to make their own decisions, including avoiding that lack of a true life.
Another major factor in the patient’s desires is to leave this world with their dignity. On their dying day, they would wish to be able to say they lived their own life the way they wanted and on their own terms. By being forced to spend your life in a hospital bed slowly dying in a painful manner, people may lose that sense of self respect. They may not want to leave behind memories to their loved ones of them being unable to live their own lives, and needing help with every aspect of their everyday life. Spending months or years in a hospital bed can be very taxing, both emotionally and certainly financially for a family. In my current profession I handle medical billing for ~60 hospitals in New York and Florida. I see these bills all the time, and let me tell you they can get very expensive. It is very expensive to keep somebody alive. Patients may not want to leave this financial burden on their loved ones after their passing. Yes insurance will help to take care of a great deal of this, but insurance does have it’s limits and it can be (and most often will rush to be) very short with it’s leniency.
After all of this, many people may find themselves wondering what reasons could there possibly be that are keeping us from allowing people this choice? One may be that it is deliberately undermining the basis of our laws, as it is in fact, the act of killing a person. Well what do we consider lethal injection for criminals? It’s the act of killing a person. So there are certain situations where it is justified to kill someone. It depends on the circumstances. If you asked these criminals on death row, they would likely pass on the death option. But here you have law-abiding citizens finding themselves in even a worse situation than those hardened criminals, and they’re even looking for and asking for death. Well then would it undermine the research that is going into looking for cures towards these diseases? No. The people who are working so hard every day to find a cure for these diseases are not likely doing so just for those patients who are in the terminal stages. They do it to try to save lives. If not that then okay they’re working towards the nobel prize. But in either situation, they’re not losing their motivation just because people are now allowed to decide whether or not they can bear the pain anymore. But what about people with severe depression and made this decision based on the depression? People with depression would not be eligible candidates to be euthanized. It would need to be medically proven that the person is in terminal situation where they are dying. It would not exactly be available in each and every doctor’s office.
Many people may simply figure “it’ll never happen to me” or “there will be a cure by then”. Well statistics are showing that it is certainly a grave possibility that you or someone you know may find themselves in this situation at some point. What if there isn’t a proven cure? There is no proof that there will be a cure in the foreseeable future. It may come, but there is no current proof. So what if you’re in that position? Or someone you dearly love? Will you be okay with the doctor saying “that’s not an option.”?
The word “euthanasia” should not be associated with the words “killing” or “murder”. Those are not the specific objectives. Instead it should be considered a form of relief. A state of comfort after a long battle. It is an option, a choice, a favor, a plea. It’s humane.
Works Cited
41 percent of Americans will get cancer : “United Press International”
May 06 2010.
Euthanasia : Wikipedia
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