Euthanasia….right or wrong???......

Blogathon-Count down # 29

Euthanasia (Mercy killing), or assisted suicide, has become an issue that has received widespread attention in recent years, and has been examined from a legal, health as well as religious point of view.

   Recently, I saw the movie Guzarish, main roles were played Hrithik Roshan and Aiswarya Bachan.In that film, Hrithik chatactered a very talented magician, who had got paralised after an accident on one of his magic shows. He had been in the paralised stage for long 12 years, with all his organs started malfunctioning, and even no sensitivity below his neck. He can hear,see,and can even talk and laugh. But, he cant even make his head up straight by his own, and everything was done for him by his nurse, role played by Aiswarya, who had been serving him for this long period.

      In this 12 year period, he was a motivator, inspiring others, in their lives. He says…’life is very beautiful’….He made his own radio station in which he talked to people and helped to solve their life problems. Even, some of his books were the text books in school. But, atlast what happened is that, after 12 years of suffering, he needed Eutanasia, ie mercy killing….and applied for the grant from the court, as he himself is not able to do that. ….Then the story continues…

             At this point what I am going to tell is that about Euthanasia. The word ‘euthanasia’ means ‘good death’ from the Greek word ‘eu’ for good, and ‘Thanatos’ for death. However, it is rarely used in this literal sense which emphasizes the type of death experienced, and is usually employed to refer to the act of deliberately inducing the death of a patient who is in severe pain and distress as a result of a terminal or incurable illness. There are two distinctions in euthanasia: active euthanasia and passive euthanasia.

      Active Euthanasia is the deliberate act of ending the life of a patient with a terminal or incurable disease. Passive euthanasia is the deliberate withholding or withdrawing of life-prolonging medical treatment with the object of hastening the Patient’s death, as a result of which, the patient dies earlier than he/she would have died had treatment been continued.

      Many arguments have been advanced by scholars, human right philosophers and law thinkers advocating legalization of euthanasia all over the world. These were made on the basis of moral, human rights, and utilitarian grounds. The moral ground is that, it is against morality to leave someone in severe pain and do nothing for his/her relief. The human right angle is that, leaving a patient in severe pain would amount to directly challenging the fundamental right of the individual ie, the right to a dignified life. The utilitarian principle believes in the greatest degree of happiness to the maximum number of people. According to this, if anyone is terminally ill, lying in hospital and is in severe pain, then it would not bring his/her family happiness and it will suffer because of his/her pain. So, utilitarian thinkers argue that an act which does not give happiness to anyone is wrong.

      So, in any respect, exercising euthanasia is wrong. First of all, it is in contradiction with the moral basis and beliefs of all religions. Every religion states that, no one except God reserves the right to take a person’s life. Secondly, it prompts doctors to go against their moral duty of always serving and safeguarding the patients irrespective of the severity of their health.

      There are limits to human suffering, especially when there is no light at the end of the tunnel. A terminally ill patient cannot be kept on life support with the hope that, in the foreseeable future, there may be developments in medicine which may save him or her. Quality of life is as important as life itself. People argue that if euthanasia is legalized, it could be misused; but isn’t it that the case with most of the existing laws? Strong safeguards should be put in place to avoid any kind of misuse, and euthanasia should be allowed when no amount of palliative care can help the patient recover. Death is never the first choice, and people opt for this path only because there is none other left to take. To die on one’s own terms can be a boon for both the patients and their families who have to go through this ordeal.

    Many countries/territories legally sanction one or the other forms of  euthanasia. They include:

The Netherlands

Belgium

Switzerland

Luxembourg

Albania

USA(only in 3 states-washington,Orgeon and Montana)

      Man is not a machine run by electro- biochemistry like any other machine which could be set right by repairing or replacing damaged organs. Even a comatose patient has his/her own consciousness. A child could remember the lullabies of the mother she said when it was in the womb. Perinatal consciousness imprints itself on the child for the rest of his life. Head injury patients have their own awareness. Patients under anesthesia on the operating table could recount the conversation of the nurses and doctors.

      ‘Where is the human mind? What is the human mind? How does an individual come to the conclusion that an unconscious patient would prefer death to “suffering”?. How could one kill him/her mercifully (mercilessly)?. Until these vexing questions are answered, man should not be authorised to kill another of his species- the “so called” mercy killing.

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“There is no right way to do the wrong” –Anon.

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