Euthanasia means mercy killing i.e. ending the life of a person to relieve him from pain. It usually involves removal or withholding of life support system on which a patient is dependent. There is a large ongoing debate on whether to legalize euthanasia, also called assisted suicide in many countries. It is a complicated thing because the issues relevant are many. The objective of assisted suicide is definitely to relieve the patient of the unbearable pain and suffering wherein the chances of a life ahead don’t seem to score in the trade-off. But still the basic complication comes that whose consent should count, even if we are considering such an ending of pain ethical. Should it be the patient (who in some circumstances might not judge his situation correctly and would be driven by the inflicted pain) or his relatives (who are free from the pain to be unbiased and deserve to take decisions for the suffering patient to some extent) or the doctor (who can also make a neutral decision, medically guided)? Again, the answer can’t not simply be doctor and/or relatives as it would be unfair to the patient. The neutral guys are actually not undergoing the pain to understand it fully. This sort of makes it a difficult loop of reasoning. Also, in some cases, it might not even be possible to procure what the patient wishes. This then puts the decision-makers in a problematic position. The other side of the coin says that the very concept of ending life like this is unethical, the very same argument that holds for suicide. In fact, one of the arguments even goes like “If you allow assisted suicide, then suicide shall definitely be legal as the difference between the two is simply that of physical and mental suffering.” I completely disagree with such a form of reasoning. The kinds of pains involved are not so directly comparable and there lies a huge difference, according to me, in the coping powers of our mind and body.
In most of the countries, assisted suicide is illegal. However, in recent times, there have been countries who have legalized it like Netherlands, Belgium, Norway etc and in many, there are organizations supporting to get it legalized. However, one interesting thing is that attempted suicide is not a direct offence in many more countries, but still assisted suicide is. The reason behind that is that it is viewed more like a kind of homicide than a suicide really. This mentality shall change in the coming time, but obviously with such a framework that takes into account the ‘loop’ I was talking of and also seeks the answer to a greater extent from medicine side.
Please post in comments as to what you think, as this is rather a topic to discuss than write about.
Why is it necessary to have any reasoning from the medical side?
ReplyDeleteIf the patient agrees, his well wishers won't because this shows something like a lack of responsibility. But if the well wishers agree then why not just let it happen?
I know that the well wishers may not be wishing so well of the patient, but why can't our legal system judge that? We do judge homicide for that matter.
I feel it should be legalized, and should be done soon.
Yes....People are just paranoid about the whole thing: I too disagree with viewing Euthanasia as sheer homicide and labeling it blatantly illegal. "Why shall the medical side at all interfere" is because of the subjective decision-making that the patient and his well-wishers are bound to go through....Not that those subjective things are senseless, they need a sound medical judgment to assess the situation from all angles.... And when I said that answer shall come from the medical side, what I really meant was that there shall be some kind of medical metric which can help the well-wishers make their decision...Finally, of course, it has to be their decision....
ReplyDeleteAgreed. A medical metric would definitely help people take decisions. But waiting for it?
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