When I hear the word euthanasia, the image of a sick or injured animal being “put to sleep” to prevent it from suffering a painful or prolonged death comes to mind. However, there is a whole other side to euthanasia that many people don’t think about, and that is the euthanasia of human beings. This practice is also referred to as physician-assisted suicide. It allows people who are terminally ill to end his or her own life with the aid of a physician, through prescribed drugs or equipment, so they may avoid suffering through the final stages of their illness.
I was inspired to write about this after watching a PBS documentary recently titled “The Suicide Tourist”. In this documentary, we meet a man named Craig Ewert who was rapidly deteriorating from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This film documented Craig’s journey from England to Switzerland to receive a physician-assisted suicide because they are illegal in England. This documentary was very moving, but at the same time it angered me. It angered me to think that if it wasn’t for Switzerland, one of the few countries that offer physician-assisted suicides to foreigners, this man would have had no choice but to suffer through the remainder of his life while his family could do nothing but watch. Thankfully though, Craig was able to escape such a fate and ended his life peacefully and without pain.
Death has always been a taboo subject, especially by means of suicide. Because of this, I believe this practice isn’t as widely accepted as I believe it should. When it comes to the United States, physician-assisted suicide is banned in all but three states. These states are Washington, Oregon, and Montana. However, you must be a resident of the state in order to be eligible for a physician-assisted suicide which leaves tens of thousands of terminal ill people in the United States with no choice but to suffer through the remainder of their lives.
Why do we set laws to ban this practice? What right do we have to dictate people’s lives and force them to suffer through terrible illnesses that leave sufferers with little to no quality of life? Is it because of religious beliefs or maybe it’s the personal morals of our lawmakers that keep this procedure from becoming a standard practice. It seems funny to me that we give animals the right to die as painlessly and with as much dignity as possible but we don’t offer the same to people we love and care for.
I am well aware that the majority of terminally ill people probably do not wish to end their life, but the fact that the option to do so, in a safe and peaceful way, is unavailable and illegal to those that may wish to is downright cruel in my opinion. I myself struggle from severe medical issues so I this subject really hits home for me. And even though my illness isn’t currently terminal and cannot fathom making the decision to end my life through a physician-assisted suicide, the fact that someone elses morals can dictate how I wish I live my life seems so very very wrong.
Inside Matthew's Mind 