Stacy Park/ Staff reporter

The word “euthanasia” originates from an ancient Greek, combining euthanatos, which means “calm” and “good,” and Thanatos, which means “death.” As such, the compound refers to the method of dying peacefully without suffering. Currently, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Canada, and Colombia are the only countries where euthanasia is legal. However, euthanasia must be legalized worldwide because forcing patients to live on unwillingly is cruel, violates individual rights, and puts an immense burden on everyone involved.

First of all, it is cruel to force people to live on when suffering. Without euthanasia, patients are forced to live in hospitals while being in extreme mental and physical pain. A life-sustaining treatment does not mean it is pain-free. Since no one can resolve the issue of the patient’s physical and psychological distress and enforced life-sustaining treatment deviates from the goal of medicine and technology. Prolonging life without any possibility of a cure is a brutal and inhumane demand by law. In short, for patients who do not have the possibility of getting better, banning the use of euthanasia is cruel and immoral.

Next, taking away a person’s right to choose euthanasia is a violation of that individual’s rights. As all people have the right to life, liberty, and freedom, patients should pursue their happiness and be guaranteed their right to choose even as they face the end of their lives. As more people have begun to seek out their right to die, patients living in nations without choice have formed a concept of euthanasia tourism. To put it another way, patients are desperate enough for a peaceful death that they are leaving their lives behind to travel to a foreign country to die. Banning the use of euthanasia can be considered the same as violating a human’s right to choose how they live.

Finally, the forced use of life-sustaining treatments places a burden on both the family and the patient when euthanasia is not an option. Hospital expenses for life-sustaining treatment can be overwhelming for families without accumulated wealth that has been saved for medical purposes. According to The Washington Post, “keeping a patient on life support in an intensive care unit bed cost, at a minimum, $2,000 – $4,000 per day and can run much higher depending on the patient’s condition, into hundreds of thousands a year.” These numbers are impossible to afford for most average households worldwide, thus making both deaths by euthanasia and affordable life-sustaining treatments impossible. Medical insurance and expensive treatments like chemotherapy make patients struggle physically and are forced to be racked with guilt. Therefore, preventing the use of euthanasia only places a burden on both the patient and their families.

In conclusion, euthanasia should be legalized worldwide to provide patients with the option of dying a peaceful, righteous, and unburdened death. The other option of life-sustaining treatment is meaningless work that only goes against the morals of medical care. The banning of euthanasia leaves only pain for the patients and families while abusing the individual’s right to die. If euthanasia is illegal, a “calm” and “peaceful” death will remain impossible as the Greek word strives to achieve.

Source:

Annadurai, Kalaivani, et al. “’Euthanasia: Right to Die with Dignity’.” Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd, Dec. 2014, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4311376/.

Ehrenfreund, Max. “Jahi McMath Could Be Removed from Life Support despite Family’s Wishes.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 30 Dec. 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/jahi-mcmath-could-be-removed-from-life- support-despite-familys-wishes/2013/12/30/41f122f4-7191-11e3-8def- a33011492df2_story.html.

“Right to Die.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Nov. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_die.