The Concept of Euthanasia

Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to imagine a case scenario where you are sick beyond recovery. Imagine yourself not being able to bathe or clothe yourself. Think of a situation where you are in extreme pain and no medicine can help. Would like to live in pain and suffering? Would you break your will because of the pain? If you die at that point will that be an honorable death?  Would give someone permission to take your life? Does taking your life make it right? Ladies and gentlemen welcome to today’s debate on euthanasia where I will be discussing how voluntary suicide is a problem to our society.

The concept of euthanasia was first addressed by Dr. Jack Kevorkian who saw his patients suffer for lack of a cure. Being a doctor, he realized that one of his patients was not responding to treatment; therefore, he had to come up with a solution. He offered them an option of a humane death. He performed over 130 assisted suicides. However, he made them in secret because no hospital or church would allow it. Roscoe et al. (2000) wrote on the cases of assisted suicides that he committed in secret. He was said to be a controversial activist who wanted to play the role of a God by taking others life. Euthanasia has since evolved and become a legal act in many countries. However, does it mean it is a right thing to do? Ladies and gentlemen, the idea of Dr. Jack does not give specific methods to take someone’s life. He used a machine that he had built from scratch to take breaths. Dyer (2006) questions the definition of humane death by Jack due to the methods he used. Was his way humane? Think of yourself in a machine taking your last breath. Euthanasia sometimes employs techniques such as the use of carbon dioxide, the use of drugs or denying yourself food and water. These methods were questioned on a journal by Nicol and Wylie published in 2006.  The problem has gone further where people and doctors neglect their patients to die. This concept of assisted death is growing in society, and it is becoming a problem. We need to do something before it gets out of hand.

In our current society, there is freedom of choice which has been exploited by medical practitioners and other religious people. Choosing what you want to do with your body is very personal.  The debate on euthanasia has been justified on the basis of freedom of choice. Many people have argued that one has to choose whether to live or not. They have an option to do what they want with their bodies.  It justifies doctors taking lives without the patient’s consent and blaming it on pain and suffering. An Indian journal by Math and Chaturvedi (2012) addressed the choice that people have on their life.  Ladies and gentlemen when we give people the power to commit voluntary suicide we are permitting few individuals to play God. The freedom of choice is being exploited to go against society’s beliefs of how human life is sacred.

Now that I have told you how freedom of choice is being exploited to undermine social values and beliefs on the importance of human life let me address how euthanasia is against the ethics of medical practitioners. Medical professionals are motivated by their passion for protecting and saving human life. They spend a long time in schools to study different ways to save the human, and we expect the doctors to implement what they learn in medical schools. They are taught how to become the best in what they do. They are supposed to give solutions when it comes to human life. They also take an oath to protect human life at all cost. They are not supposed to take human life or give counsel encouraging the same. However, euthanasia is against this oath. It contradicts every attribute that a doctor is supposed to stand for. Ladies and gentlemen imagine a scenario where a doctor who is lazy to find a cure for a patient recommends assisted suicide. This means when they lack a solution to specific disease their only option will be euthanasia. When a doctor takes a person’s life, they violate the medical code of ethics which demands them to be lifesavers. The society is facing a problem where we are raising murders than medical professionals.

Ladies and gentlemen as I have said euthanasia is overgrowing in the society. At the present day, it has been legalized and being done in broad daylight. As I have discussed, the concept that started with a medical activist has become a severe problem that cannot be ignored anymore. As we have seen the methods of euthanasia are not specified. Some are even painful and less humane. Consider assisted suicide where a plastic paper suffocates one. Is that a humane way of taking a life? The concept that was brought about by Dr. Jack has grown globally without boundaries. We have also discussed how doctors and other evil people might exploit euthanasia to take people’s lives, how freedom of choice can be used by other people to undermine the importance of human life. No one should be given power more than other people in society. It violates social ethics and values that guide us on what to do.  Finally, ladies and gentlemen, I have taken you through how euthanasia violates the medical code of ethics. It puts doctors in a position where they have to go against their professional ethics. They have taken an oath to protect and save lives therefore by allowing them to take patients life’s violated their professional values. Let me conclude my speech by telling you that euthanasia is a problem in the society, and if we continue supporting the act, it will grow beyond us up to a point where we will not have control over it. My fellow students, we have to appreciate the fact that technology today has come with a lot of positive things. However, we need also to look at the negative aspect of it too. Before going for the process, it’s good to even look at the impact it will have on our lives. We may see euthanasia as the best option possible but leave the family and friends with a lot of anguish and emotional torture. Therefore, let’s do that’s which is good and make the society a better place where people can work and realize that which is best in themselves.

Thank you for your time ladies and gentlemen.

 
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