Does an Individual Person Who Has a Terminal Sickness Have the Right to Decide When and How They Want to End Their Own Life?

• Does an individual person who has a terminal sickness have the right to decide when and how they want to end their own life? Between 0.3% to 4.6% of all deaths are reported as euthanasia or assisted suicide in countries that have legalised it. Euthanasia is a very controversial issue around the world which is illegal in many different countries. In Australia it is currently illegal however in the past states and territories have made it legal for a period. Legislation to allow assisted suicide will come into effect in mid-2019. Personally, I believe that euthanasia should be legalized if a person gives consent and has a valid reason to and meets the criteria set out by health professionals.

Background Info

• Euthanasia is a method of intentionally ending a life to relieve pain and suffering. The word euthanasia translates from the Greek word EU goodly meaning good death. Euthanasia is categorised into 3 different ways, which are voluntary which is consent given by the patient non-voluntary where no consent is given by the patient or involuntary which has no given consent and is against the persons will. Voluntary euthanasia is legal in some countries. Non-voluntary euthanasia is illegal in all countries. Involuntary euthanasia is also illegal in all countries and is usually considered as murder.

How it is performed

• Currently there are many ways of initiating euthanasia, and each method can have different outcomes, some which are very painful others can't be felt. Some methods are...

• A doctor can write a prescription for drugs that are intended to kill the patient.

• In the Netherlands, the practice is an injection to render the patients comatose, followed by a second injection to stop the heart.

• In countries where euthanasia is illegal the patient will refuse to eat, drink, refuse to take medications and treatments until they die which is known as withdrawal of treatment.

Body paragraph 1

• Euthanasia saves money and resources, healthcare costs a lot of money and the number of beds and doctors in hospitals are limited. It is wasteful to use the money and resources to lengthen the lives of those who have an incurable disease and want to die themselves rather than saving the lives of people