Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Raise Strong Emotions

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are emotive subjects. Our fears about death and dying and the laws, both religious and state, which control the legality of death, are powerful influences on all of us.

Staying alive is one of the strongest drives any animal, humans included, has. At the same time, those who are carnivorous in their diet expect animals to die to feed them. This is part of the food chain and is echoed by the animals who hunt for food as opposed to non carnivorous animals.

Society does not expect anyone to kill another person; yet we execute people we deem to have committed certain crimes. We send our children to fight wars for our countries, knowing they can be killed or maimed. These concepts are accepted are normal. Man is an aggressive creature and very muddled in how it thinks.

The danger for most of us with euthanasia and assisted suicide is that someone will die because they are rich, in the way, getting old and being a nuisance or some other idea. Yet when our pets become distressed with disease and old age, after consulting a vet, we give them the mercy of releasing them with a quiet injection and call it putting the animal to sleep. The grief is no less but we feel it is a kind thing to do.

When humans suffer from dreadful diseases like the end of some cancers, motor neuron disease and diseases which take away the independence and dignity of the individual, those who have nothing to do with the person dictate they should live and suffer. They seem to be devoid of imagination of what it is like to suffer unbearable pain or suffocate slowly because the body cannot get air.

Suicide is frowned upon as a cowardly act. For someone who is desperately disfigured it is seen as the only answer. The only person who can know what it is like, is the individual who is suffering. Their family and friends can have some idea because they see the results every day but they cannot know. When you love someone you do not want them to struggle with survival which is traumatic.

Living wills have been designed so that in the event of an unexpected disaster, the wishes of the person are known. Who knows what is happening inside the head of someone who has been in a coma for years. Who knows what quality of life they have. Why is it so terrible to allow someone to die in peace.

In some countries these elements have been considered and thought through. There are legal controls and nothing is done without the criteria being covered. A person cannot just be disposed of as a whim. Surely this is a humane way to treat people who have gone as far as they can. For the religious, dying means getting the reward they have worked for during their lifetime, a positive thing surely.

There is a strong case for euthanasia and assisted suicide.