Free Essay on Ethical Issues Surrounding Euthanasia

It is difficult decisions to make between watching your loved one suffer from pain and die at last and deciding to terminate their lives in advance and prevent them from the suffering. Euthanasia is a practice which has been incorporated in the healthcare sector to end the life of patients prematurely. Euthanasia can be done by the withdrawal of treatment or introduction of medicine to aid stop the life. It can be a decision made the patient voluntary or by the guardians or relatives without the consent of the patient. The introduction of the medicine may be by the physician or the patient or the third party. Euthanasia has caused a debate not only in the healthcare sector but also in religious institutions and societies fighting for human rights as well as cultural values (Math &Chaturvedi, 2012). Suicides attempts are always criminal offenses and anyone who attempts still faces the law, but Euthanasia has been allowed. It is, however, a subject to debate on and that what this paper seeks to do.

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First, on the pros, the right to die is a personal choice which anyone; Euthanasia relieves extreme pains and also helps reduce the pain the relatives watching their loved ones suffer. Another pro is that Euthanasia helps lessen the hospital bills which may increase with no expectations of recovering and the funds used to help facilitate other activities (Euthanasia Website, 2018). Euthanasia has also been suggested as appropriate because it helps free up the equipment that the sick and bedridden was applying to be used by others.

In the cons, Euthanasia has been used by people to oppress their relatives or other people for personal gains where it is involuntarily. Euthanasia also devalues human life and also can be used by physicians without giving all tries. Euthanasia also results in people living in fear of facing the same upon getting ill thus they live in trauma leading to reduced quality of life (McCormack, 1998). Euthanasia has also viewed as religiously and ethically wrong with many religious groups arguing that it is a sin before the creator.

According to us, Euthanasia should be illegalized and not allowed as illustrated by the seven principles of nursing ethics. The ethical principle of non-maleficence which asserts that a healthcare practitioner should not harm even upon the request of the patient helps to clarify that Euthanasia should not happen because terminating someone life is harm thus not a solution. The principle of beneficence implies that the healthcare personnel should produce a benefit for the patient and the best benefit is cure which brings about joy in the family (Schroder-Back et al., 2014). Also, the principle of health maximization which states that the quality of health care should be at the maximum, support that the healthcare professionals should ensure recovery of the patient for the common good of everyone including them. The efficiency principle dictates that there should be enough tools to address all the health problems; thus there is no need for terminating someone life when curing them is the only way if this principle is to go by. The principle of respect for autonomy is where there is the inclusion of the patient's decision in making the final decisions (Summers, n.d); the patient may seek to terminate their life, but the principle of non-maleficence comes to the rescue. The state that the patient is making the conclusion it is also considered in this principle; thus Euthanasia should not be allowed at all since pain may be resulting to such an unfair and unjust act. The principle of justice which includes social justice help in conclusion that Euthanasia should not be carried out since just like murder and manslaughter or suicide it is against human rights. The proportionality principle may in a way seem to support Euthanasia since it suggests the proportional weight of the individual's freedom against social goods, but it does not help in any way; this is because social human right by avoiding Euthanasia outdoes the conduction of an act of that kind.

In conclusion, Euthanasia has more harm than good to the patients, the healthcare practitioner aiding the process and the relatives or any third party involved in making the decision. Euthanasia may also result in people taking it as an advantage to eliminate the unwanted. Euthanasia is not ethically correct as illustrated by the seven principles guiding the nursing ethics and also religiously it is not correct since like for Christians they believe that God is the giver and taker of life thus no one is supposed to aid the process. Euthanasia has more cons than pros and should be avoided globally if possible.

References

Euthanasia Website (2018). Euthaasia.com. http://www.euthanasia.com/proscons.html

Math, S. B., &Chaturvedi, S. K. (2012). Euthanasia: Right to life vs. right to die. The Indian Journal of Medical Research, 136(6), 899-902.

McCormack, P. (1998). Quality of life and the right to die: an ethical dilemma. PubMed, 28(1).Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9687131

Schroder-Back, P., Duncan, P., Sherlaw, W., Brall, C., &Czabanowska, K. (2014). Teaching seven principles for public health ethics: towards a curriculum for a short course on ethics in public health programmes. BMC Medical Ethics, 15, 73.http://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6939-15-73

Summers, J. (n.d).Principles of Healthcare Ethics. Retrieved from http://samples.jbpub.com/9781449665357/Chapter2.pdf