Against Euthanasia Essay 3

with a minor or major disease, how many people would be killed because they are “terminally ill” or the sub-definition “hopelessly ill”? Euthanasia can most likely become a means of health care cost containment if legalized.One of the biggest pressures put on the government in the past couple elections were the topic of Cherish The Value 4 health care containment costs. Euthanasia can become one of the loop holes in the government cut downs to save money for health care. If legalized the cut back on health care can be replaced by the “cure” of death.

Take Oregon as an example, a law was passed stating legalization of assisted suicide and later was confirmed that physician assisted suicide was going to be paid for by the Oregon Health Plan. Docters treating patients under managed care are at risk of being inancially flushed by providing treatment, thus putting pressure on them to refuse it in any means possible. Taxes can be reduced worldwide as the costs of running hospitals go down with the number of inpatients they have filling up beds that could be used for people whose lives can actually be saved. According to Wesley J. Smith, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute he says, “..

. drugs used in assisted suicide cost only about $40, but that it could take $40,000 to treat a patient properly so that they don’t want the “choice” of assisted suicide…” This emphasizes the act that it would be financially benefitial to all sides of the party to legalize euthanasia to improperly “treat” patients to be far more financially stable. This is wrong because people get rich off patients dying

due to improper treatment or no treatment at all. If legalized, it would eventually become all about the economy and less about the patients.

Euthanasia would eventually become non-voluntary over-time. If euthanasia was to be legalized it would give depressed or financially struggling individuals to have an excuse to volunteer for “treatment” when on the contrary they could be treated and live their life.Simply looking at the outcome of legalizing euthanasia in black and white isn’t acceptable, there are going to be thousands of cases each year which involve other excluded factors that make it non- voluntary; look at the Netherlands. Monash University states, “Under current law, the consent of a patient does not justify a doctor actively hastening the death of that patient.

”An example of this Cherish The Value 5 incident occurring is abortion, abortion was stated to happen only if the mothers life was in danger and now is practiced with free will with cases of the baby only being a fetus.What factors claim that voluntary euthanasia won’t evolve to non-voluntary euthanasia? None, we can’t look at the issue simply we need to elaborate the dangers of excluded factors. Another excluded factor is a sick elderly lady who has trouble doing basic daily life tasks signs a euthanasia consent form, is this voluntary or non-voluntary? If we start accepting physician- assisting death as a cure now it can later make patients feel guilty and cowardly for not picking death as a cure as it would be widely accepted. For example, your veterinarian says your cat is in xcruitiating pain and needs to be put to sleep and you refuse, what would people

think of you? Now use the same scenario but its your grandmother, you would be expected to sign the consent form as it would be the right thing to do.

Patients of family’s who are financially unstable would be pressured to take the easy way out and not put extra financial stress on there family by being properly treated, degrading the value of human life. Euthanasia will eventually become non- voluntary and phsychologically unstable or financially low individuals would lose their life because of one bad chose; legalizing euthanasia.Cherish The Value 6 References Shams, J. (2006, August).

Update – issue 8. Euthanasia: Lords reject Assisted Dying Bill, 62-67. British Medical Journal (2000) February 19. Extent and determinants of error in doctors' prognoses in terminally ill patients: Retrieved December 04, 2006 : Web page: http://www. pubmedcentral.

nih. gov/articlerender. fcgi? artid=27288 Vardy, J. (2001, January 17).

Euthanasia a crime. Independent, p. 28a. Monash University (2006) Demonstrating your reasoning: Retrieved December 04, 2006 From the Monash University web page: http://www.

monash. edu. au/lls/llonline/writing/law/legal-process/2. 3. 2.

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