Euthanasia Speach

There are only two categories of euthanasia voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary occurs with the full informed request of a competent adult patient. In theory is in fact suicide as the patient is wishing for their own death. Involuntary euthanasia occurs without the patients consent and is therefore murder. So in all reality euthanasia is in fact just a fancy name for other crimes.

The action of killing an individual for reasons considered to be merciful. The Nazi euthanasia program was designed to kill people who were considered undesirable because of physical or mental conditions. The myth of Aryan racial purity included eliminating individuals considered inferior.

1. Euthanasia would not only be for people who are "terminally ill." There are two problems here -- the definition of "terminal" and the changes that have already taken place to extend euthanasia to those who aren't "terminally ill." There are many definitions for the word "terminal." For example, when he spoke to the National Press Club in 1992, Jack Kevorkian said that a terminal illness was "any disease that curtails life even for a day." The co-founder of the Hemlock Society often refers to "terminal old age." Some laws define "terminal" condition as one from which death will occur in a "relatively short time." Others state that "terminal" means that death is expected within six months or less.

Even where a specific life expectancy (like six months) is referred to, medical experts acknowledge that it is virtually impossible to predict the life expectancy of a particular patient. Some people diagnosed as terminally ill don't die for years, if at all, from the diagnosed condition. Increasingly, however, euthanasia activists have dropped references to terminal illness, replacing them with such phrases as "hopelessly ill," "desperately ill," "incurably ill," "hopeless condition," and "meaningless life."

3. Euthanasia will only be voluntary, they say Emotional and psychological pressures could become overpowering for depressed or dependent people. If the choice of euthanasia is considered as good as a decision to receive care, many people will feel guilty for not choosing death. Financial considerations, added to the concern about "being a burden," could serve as powerful forces