Voluntary Euthanasia and Life Support Essay

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Euthanasia

Euthanasia - is it killing or letting die? In the last thirty years, this has been a highly controversial topic, the worldly morals versus the
Christian. Although there are certain instances where it is justifiably considered to be letting die, it is essentially killing.

Euthanasia comes from a Greek word, meaning "easy death," and is now often associated with the infamous Dr. Kevorkian. There are three types of euthanasia - what doctors consider to be "letting the patient die," for instance taking both conscious and unconscious patients off of life support, not reviving the patient in case of a heart failure, et cetera. There is also assisted suicide. Dr. Kevorkian and his suicide machine have made themselves known …show more content…
The machine had three bottles of liquid hanging upside down inside a frame. One had a harmless saline solution in it; the next had a chemical that causes unconsciousness; the third had potassium chloride, a compound that stops the heart. Kevorkian hooked Adkins up to a tube similar to that on an I.V. She died in less than six minutes. According to
Kevorkian, just before dying, "she looked at me with grateful eyes and said,
'Thank you, thank you, thank you.'" The doctor then called the police and reported what had happened. He was barred from using the suicide machine again, but four months later he assisted in the suicide of two women.

The question is, though, should euthanasia be legalized, is it ethical?
It is not ethical, and in almost all cases, it is murder. In the Netherlands, it is already performed widely and openly. In November of 1991, voters in
Washington State had a chance to decide whether or not they wanted to legalize euthanasia, to make legal "dying with dignity." It was voted in to legalize it under the following conditions: the patient would have to be mentally competent, two doctors would have to agree that the patient had less than six months to live, and the patient would be required to ask for euthanasia in writing. But even though it was voted legal, when asked on television, everyone asked said that they strongly believed that it was unethical. Said one, "Rules against killing are not isolated moral principles, but
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