Euthanasia is Not Murder: An Argument
Debate continues over the issue of euthanasia because of the recent court decision
over Dr. Death. Kevorkian has been aquitted of murder in his assisted suicide cases and
the court has created precedent for the legalization of selecting death. Euthanasia does
take place and is selected voluntarily by patients who are in great pain due to an
incurable illness like cancer. Usually, the decision is made to pull the plugs of
machines which prolong life or to end treatment. Because patients select to die, their
deaths end suffering, and there is no intention to cause harm, physician assisted
euthanasia cannot be considered murder.
Murder can be defined as an act of violence which is perpetrated against a victim.
For example, a man stuffed into a car after being shot five times is a murder victim.
The individual dies at a time which is forced by the killer who has intent to harm him or
her. For instance, when the Boston strangler killed the women, he first terrorized them.
Frequently murder is painfuland the person who is dying has not voluntarily decided to
participate in his or her death. By its nature, murder is death by violence at a time of
the killer's rather than nature's choosing.
Unlike murder, euthanasia is not an act of violence. In an editorial in the
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Dr. Eric Chevlen argues that patients, who are worn down by pain,
extensive testing, and depression, will be easily persuaded to seek assisted suicide
(11B). Furthermore, Chevlen mentions that the courts have decided that the right to die
should be made available to everyone (11B). Modern medical technology has allowed
doctors to prolong life past the point of a patient's natural death. In the case of
euthanasia, the doctor needs to end suffering from cancer or AIDS and assist the patient
to die comfortably. Patients are beginning to assert their right to die rather than
being kept alive forcibly. For example, a Texan who suffered burns in a gas explosion,
Dan Cowart wanted to die even though he survived the accident. He believes that his
rights were violated by the doctors who prevented his death through life-sustaining
treatment. When a patient like Cowart is in constant pain, death becomes a peaceful
reward.
Additionally, doctor assisted euthanasia is performed with the full consent of the
patient. Murder steals life, while euthanasia gives the patient release. A patient with
a degenerative neurological condition has, in one case, begged ofr help to die. The
patients who have been helped by Dr. Kevorkian have all been cancer victims whose daily
bouts with pain.....,........ The patients have requested their delivery from life.
Muder on the other hand, usually takes the victim by surprise. Another person has, for
the most part, decided when the murdered individual will die and by what method, but the
slain person has not given permission to be killed.
Finally, murders are committed with malice or harmful intent. People are killed to
keep secrets, steal power or money, and for other reasons, usually criminal in nature.
In other cases, a person is killed out of hatred or because someone has determined that
the person belongs to the wrong church, ethnic group, or political affiliation. For
example, hate crimes like murdering African Americans, Jews, or other ethnic groups, are
done out of an intention to harm these people to get rid of them. Genocide like that
done by Hitler was wholesome murder. Like Dr. Kevorkian, other doctors who assist
patients in ending their lives help people to end pain and sufferining. Part of the
doctor's oath is to offer ease, and those patients, who desire to prevent artificial
prolongation of life on machines or stop pain caused by cancer or other terminal
diseases, see assisted suicide as a legitimate way out of their personal hell.
Opponents to euthanasia see ven assisted suicide as murder. They hold that
euthanasia's legalization will give doctors a license to kill. Dr. Chevlen has expressed
a fear that patients are "battered by a society whose laws have equated 'terminally ill'
with 'worthless'." "He states, "Forse is not necessary in such a situation. Persuasion
suffices to convince the patient to choose death. (B11) According to an Internet survey,
samples of doctors questioned about euthanasia reported that they did not consult ohter
physicians or even falsified the cause of death. Euthanasia opponents claim that doctors
have a duty to save lives and should not take a person off a machine, if the machine will
maintain life. Furthermore, the opponents to euthanasia see it as murder because some
patients, after they are helped, are brain dead and unable to know what is happenening to
them . Those who do not see euthanasia as murder counter this claim by saying that the
doctors have written consent from a time when the patient was lucid. Additionally, if a
person's brain is dead, legally that person is already biologically dead and it is not
murder to stop life support. Derek Humphry, founder of the Hemlock Society in 1980,
leads the movement for the right to die for those people who believe that they would
desire death if they were incapacitated. Those who join the society believe that the
government should protect an individual's right to privacy, allowing him or her to die
with dignity in a more natural way.
In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed certain legislation permitting
passive euthanasia to be used in cases where the patient was brain dead. Thus, in such
cases as that of Karen Anne Quinlan have has historical impact on the medical profession.
Quinlan's parents petitioned the courts to stop using a respirator to assist Karen
breathe. In 1976, the courts gave the permission parents sought (Spring and Larson
155-156). However, no cases have yet set a precedent for active euthanasia, meaning that
legally active euthanasia is still very controversial. Hence, doctors who support active
euthanasia and feel morally obligated to help a patient end pain and suffering, will
fulfill their duty by assisting that patient to die more comfortably. In such cases,
euthanasia cannot be considered as murder
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