Euthanasia

Essay by NeelumHigh School, 10th gradeA+, April 2002

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Euthanasia, or assisted suicide is a very sensitive and debatable topic of todays world. With the medical technology of today, it is possible to keep a person alive even if brain dead, by the use of life support machines and other life sustaining equipment. The debate is that when a person is at a dead end, either in a coma or having been diagnosed with a terminal disease that ends in death, should that person be able to have the right to choose to die by an assisted suicide. Here are the opinions of those for it. In todays world, medical technology has advanced so much that it is now possible to sustain life through formerly life ending injuries or illneses. An alternative to the years of suffering and pain, is an assisted suicide. What exactly is an assisted suicide? Well, it is providing the means, like drugs, by which a person can take his or her own life.

Right now there are only two places in the world that it is legal to have an assisted suicide, or a physiscian assisted suicide where a medical doctor assists in directing the suicide of a dying patient. Those two places are the State of Oregon in the U.S., and the Northern Territory of Australia. There are strict guidelines on determining whether a person is under law able to have an assisted suicide. There are two cases for an assisted suicidem according to Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization (ERGO). "One is if the patient is in an advanced terminal illness that is causing unbearable suffering to the individual. This is the most common reason to seek an early end. The other is if the person suffers from a grave physical handicap which is so restricting that the individual cannot, even after due...