Essay on Euthanasia Legalisation and Assisted Suicide for the Disabled

Euthanasia, which is also referred to as an act of mercy is the intentional life ending of an individual suffering from a painful health condition or from a disease that is chronic. The argument that has been put across is that the chronic illness, senility, and the disability from it from people who are suffering (The Medical Dictionary, 2017). Mercy killing facilitates in the process of people ending their lives on their terms just in time before their sense of personhood is erased from the earth by the severity of their health condition (Burgermeister, 2006). Usually, the person who is ending their life has total and full control over the situation, thus the helper I the process is just a catalyst to the process of killing but not actual execution (Pages.drexel.edu, 2017).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

In Britain, the act of euthanasia is illegal. In this country, voluntary manslaughter or murder is termed illegal regardless of whether the victim has requested for the favour or not. A medical practitioner who aids in ending the life of another person is likely to face a jail term of not below than 14 years (Bbc.co.uk, 2017). The 1961 suicide Act in the Britain states that assisting a person and counseling them on matters related to ending life is a criminal offense which is punishable in the country by 14 years imprisonment. However, the court may decide to pardon a person who aids another in committing suicide in the account of the circumstances surrounding the death. Despite euthanasia being illegal in Britain, there are other countries that the jurisdiction applies and they include Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg and also Colombia. In the above-listed countries, the physicians are mandated to be a part of aiding a patient end their lives. Additionally, the US has approved the taking away of life in six states under the medical aid dying.

In spite of there being laws put in place to deter euthanasia in Britain, the act has been taking place even on a non-voluntary basis. Tony Bland was the first person to bring the issue on euthanasia into light. He was at the state of non-responsive and persistent state (PNS). Bland was killed through dehydration and starvation and so have may other people been killed in the same manner. According to the British Medical Association (BAM), the use of food and drink withdrawal from people with PNS has become familiar. Similarly, for people with severe stroke issues, the same removal method has been used to end lives of these people (1999) (Davis, 2004). Since the medical practitioners have been carrying out the action in secrecy, it would be better for the government to legalise the act so as to be in a position to control the public.

In a susceptible society, the people who are at a greater risk of assisted suicide are those who are severely and terminally ill or disabled. The Disability Rights Movements approve of euthanasia by arguing that the technique help the society get rid of the burden of the disabled member of the community. They continue to depict that euthanasia is an expression of ableism among the different countries in the Western region (Independentliving.org, 2017). death with dignity has become a common term when deliberately procured death is addressed. The phrase implies that the disabled people in the society are only dignified in death. Hence they should feel free to do it whenever they feel like doing so. Again, the pro-euthanasia lobby people use the same phrase often when they are making more emphasis in their cause (Davis, 2004). Some people tend to believe that individuals with disabilities have a little quality life unlike other people without any impairment, and that misperception terms the lives of the less privileged as replete with disgrace (Gill, 2000; National Council on Disability, 1997).

The tragedy model, which is a cultural expression from medical model depict the disabled people as sick and weak people. According to the model, the impairment indicates disaster not only to the health of the individual but also to normality. Additionally, the tragedy model views the able- bodies of people in the society as the normal, while the lack of total health is considered as a misfortune that has to be bored on a daily basis (Frank 1997; Parsons 1951 as cited in Cameron, 2014). According to the DRM, the disabled people will continue to be discriminated against and oppressed as long as they are viewed as charity objects, are a suffering entity and unworthy of living (Independentliving.org, 2017).

The increased cases of death wish have been caused by lack of understanding and support from the society towards the disabled victims. The DRM are at the forefront of discouraging and discriminating against the disabled people as they depict the to be useless, unwanted and unproductive members of the society. Arguably, giving the disabled people the freedom to end their lives is discrimination against humanity. All people should be treated equally. Hence the laws should not intervene only when the able bodied people also want to end their life so as to keep every member of the society on par with each other. Putting the less fortunate in the society under euthanasia is a form of discrimination against these members of the community.In most cases, the non-disabled people who become suicidal are recommended rehabilitation and counseling services. Hence the same should be extended to the disabled members of the society.

The community has chosen not to support the disabled people in the society, always treating them as a load that needs to be gotten rid of. The hypothetical right to die in other words imply that the disabled people in the community have a duty to die. The society lacks the dignity that is meant to help the disabled in the society, hence prefer eliminating and killing the impaired in the community which proves to be cheaper than taking care of them. These people have left no other choice but to terminate their lives since the ones who are supposed to take care of them are the one in the front line to make them feel worthless. There is no way a person who is made to feel unworthy can have the courage to face another day. The only alternative to living a miserable life is through euthanasia, which is the road most of these people have opted to follow.

The pro-activists of assisted suicide or rather euthanasia have forcefully put across two arguments. The first of the arguments is the ethical argument (Nhs.uk, 2017), which states that every person has a right to choose how and when they want to terminate their lives and be able to achieve that with dignity. The ethical argument puts more emphasis on the concept of life which suggests that people should only live when they are worth it, thus giving everyone mandate to decide on what they want with their lives. If at all a person feels unworthy to be on the phase of the earth, then they should feel free to proceed with the next bet option at that moment, and that includes terminating their lives. In most occasions, the disabled people live under much pain not only physically but also emotionally, and that their lives are diminished every day of tier lives. Ethically, therefore, they should feel free to end their lives.

The second category is the pragmatic argument (Nhs.uk, 2017), which states that almost all the practices applied at the end of the care of life are some euthanasia, just that they are not identified with that word. For instance, there is a practice that suggests that no attempts on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) order when the patients request so in the case that they stop breathing or their heart stops pumping. However, DNACPR has received heavy criticism as it is considered as denial for treatment for the sick person which can essentially be a life saver. The pragmatists argue that euthanasia is carried out on a daily basis in the society anyway. Hence the law should legalize it to ensure that it is procedurally executed in a controlled manner.

Some arguments have been put against assisted suicide, and the power imbalance between the patients and the medical practitioners is one of these arguments (Nhs.uk, 2017). The doctors end up being put in deplorable positions of authority as they have to give detailed information to the disable persons on which to base their decision regardless of how strict the regulations are. Medical practitioners have been forced to defy BMA guidelines as well as the guidelines put forward by Resuscitation Council and Royal College of Nursing. As the study showed, most of the doctors had to consult with the families of aged persons before admitting the dossier. The non-resuscitation orders are discriminate in that they are recommended mostly for black people, the elderly, HIV/ AIDS victims, alcoholics as well as for the non-English native speakers. Thus, the doctors to a high extend influence those who undergo euthanasia and those that do not.

Most of the disabled people become suicidal due to the discrimination they face from the members of the society. The society has a belief that the disabled do not need to live but rather should die so as to reduce the burden they impose on other people. Additionally, committing suicide has been thought to help the disabled in easing the pain that they have to undergo o daily basis. When an average person becomes suicidal, they rare treated accordingly by being offered counseling and rehabilitation, but that is not, however, the case with the disabled people who are encouraged to take away their lives. However, some terminally ill people have allowed the cause of the nature of the ailment to take full force as they refuse treatment when they feel it is hopeless. Under natural circumstances, an ordinary person dying is not the same as a terminally or disabled person dying.