Since when did dying become a crime?
An Argumentative Essay for Euthanasia
Matthew Chrisman
College prep English
Mr. Wyborney
October 30, 2013
Is it honestly a crime for one to die, or maybe even want to die? Even if this self-righteous death is achieved in a fashion in which most Americans today may not agree with, is it really up to the people around us to control how someone else should die? I strongly urge this country and its citizens to consider the possibilities of a quicker, less painful death for those who are terminally ill, or those who are in extreme physical or emotional pain. If you do so, I believe it will make this country a better place. Think about it this way, what if your grandfather, the man who raised and cared for you all throughout your life, suddenly became terminally ill with some unknown cancer and was no longer able to do anything for himself. Everything he love to do, hiking, biking, snowboarding, and even boating; everything in what was thought to be so close, could no longer be achieved, gone, without any recollection of it even ever being within reach. Sitting there day to day, watching your only family wither away with every passing second, it hurts; you hate to see him in pain. Eventually he says he can’t take it anymore, he asks the doctors to just put him out of his misery. The doctors refuse, saying it’s against their policies. Each day he pleads for death, until eventually, one day, the doctors walk in to find that he had thrown himself out of the 4th story hospital window, onto the cold, dark pavement below. This death not only traumatically affects you and your sanity, but it also leaves a messy scene in which city workers must clean up. Now tell me, can you really say now that there was no better way to deal with this situation? Would euthanasia really be out of the question? I think not.
Some might come with the argument that "The history of the law's treatment of assisted suicide in this country has been and continues to be one of the rejections of nearly all efforts to permit it. That being the case, our decisions lead us to conclude that the asserted 'right' to assistance in committing suicide is not a fundamental liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause." (Right to Die Con and Due Process Clause) But again, in quixotically, trying to conquer death; doctors all too frequently do no good for their patients’ “ease” but instead, do more harm by prolonging and even at times magnifying a patients’ disease and pain. Can you really call it living, when you are a powerless, immobilized, living corps, imprisoned within a bed, depending on a bunch of expensive machinery and tiring doctors, just to get through daily life? Really, what kind of man would want a life like that? I believe that if a person is suffering and wants to die, then that person should have that right to make that decision.
Another argument in which someone might make is that, the practice of euthanasia goes against basic religious views. This is actually true for the most part; all forms of euthanasia is considered forbidden in Islam, and the Hindus believe that even though helping a person end a painful and miserable life may be good, it interferes with the cycle of death and rebirth. The Christian Bible on the other hand shows that mercy killing existed and was even accepted ever since early man. Some readings from the bible like Samuel 1:9-10, even states “that all men have the right to their own death.” “Then he begged me, ‘Come over here and put me out of my misery, for I am in terrible pain and want to die.’ So I killed him.” (Samuel 1:9-10) Not only that but The Bible also states that “Humans were given dominion over all living things by God (Genesis 1:28), which in other words means that we can choose for ourselves whether or not we want to live or die. Some Christians may even say that God gave humans free will, allowing us to deciding when our lives end. Really
