A Good Death

A Good Death

Death is final. Some die naturally in a peaceful manner while others suffer through tremendous pain in order to get there. Euthanasia is the only way for some people to leave all their pain behind. Euthanasia is the act of killing another person in a merciful way. Of course, euthanasia has many more meaning to it than that. A person that is suffering from a terminal illness decides that life is not worth living because there is too much pain involved and ends his own life, would that be wrong of him? That is the question that is at hand.

Many supporters of the "right to die movement" can justify euthanasia. First, because terminal illness is causing pain that is unbearable for that individual. That is the main reason why people seek self-induced death. Second, the thought of a restricted life and depending on others, even for the simplest task, does not appeal to them. Aristotle wrote, "happiness is the exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence in a life affording them scope." These people will never find happiness because they cannot live their lives out to the fullest extent that was given to them.

Nancy was only four years old when her grandmother died. Her grandmother had a big lump on the lower right hand side of her back. The doctors removed it, but it was too late. The tumor had already spread throughout her body. Instead of having a lump on her back, she had a long stitched up incision there. She couldn't move around; Nancy's parents had to help her go to the bathroom and do all the simple things that she use to do all by herself. Nancy would ask her grandmother to get up to take her younger sister, Linh, and herself outside so they could play. She never got up. A couple of months later, an ambulance came by their house and took their grandmother away. That was the last time Nancy ever saw her alive. She was in the hospital for about a week and a half. Nancy's parents never took them to see her. One day, Nancy saw her parents crying and she have never seen them cry before. They dropped Linh and her off at one of their friend's house. Nancy got mad because she thought they were going shopping and didn't take her with them. Now, she realizes that they went to make funeral arrangements for her grandmother. The next day, they dressed up and all went to see their grandmother. They didn't tell her that she had passed away. That was when Nancy realized that she would never be coming home again. She never got the chance to say good bye to her.

When Nancy was nineteen years old, she asked her dad why he never took her to see her grandmother at the hospital. He told her that grandmother was deteriorating and didn't want us to see her looking like that. She had too much pride to let us see her in her frail state. Knowing how she was, she would have wanted to be euthanized because she was in so much pain. The doctors didn't listen to her and she suffered to the very end. Death was the only thing that brought her peace.

A person that is living with a incurable disease that will eventually kill them in the end is living with a pain that is too much for anyone to handle, has the right to end it. Especially, if death was certainly not far away. Before they decide to make that decision, the doctors must let them know the facts and not give them a false sense of hope, so the patient can make an educated decision. Doctors are there to help the patient and that means in assisting them in suicide. That is known as active euthanasia. That is when the doctors are taking part in actually "killing" the patient. In a funny way, it shows that the doctor actually care about the patient's interest.

Then there is passive euthanasia. Euthanasia is a physical act to end a life. Passive would be letting the person die naturally. Letting someone die is, sometimes, a long and painful process. If a cancer patient decides that he doesn't want to take chemotherapy because of all the side affects and dies because of that decision, it still wouldn't be euthanasia. There is nothing wrong with that if that is what the ill person wanted, but it is not euthanasia. Keeping a person alive that does not want to live is wrong because it is disrespecting his life and any dignity that he has left. In these situations, one chooses to live the rest of his life out with dignity while the other wants to die with dignity.

In the essay, "The Wrongfulness of Euthanasia," by J. Gay-Williams, he stated,

"Euthanasia does violence to this natural goal of survival. It is literally acting against nature because all the processes of nature are bent towards the end of bodily survival. Euthanasia defeats these subtle mechanisms in a way that, in particular case, disease and injury might not." (Satris, 281.)

He is stating that people should let nature take its course. Euthanasia would alter the human body from doing its functions. He believes that the human body can do everything that needs to done, but in reality there is only so much the human body can do.

When the natural goal of survival fails then death is certainly going to be the final resort. If that is the case, then all euthanasia is doing is ending life earlier and maybe with less pain. A patient that