Pros and Cons

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Voluntary euthanasia should be legalized


ForAgainst

  
Euthanasia gives too much power to doctors
ForAgainst
     
  • Decisions about euthanasia made within a properly regulated structure and with proper safeguards should be acceptable
  • In most cases the decision will be taken by the patient, the doctor only provides information to the patient to help him or her  

  
Proper palliative care makes euthanasia unnecessary
ForAgainst

  
Palliative care is not always an adequate solution
ForAgainst
     

  
Palliative care is available to only a small proportion of the terminally ill and in the very last stage of the illness
ForAgainst
     
  • We must take care of everyone in the community though they may be small gruops. 

  
Not everyone wishes to avail themselves of palliative or hospice care
ForAgainst
     

  
Some people would prefer to die rather than living in a state of helplessness and distress, regardless of what is available in terms of pain-killing
ForAgainst
  • For many dying patients, the major source of distress is having their autonomous wished frustrated instead of bodily suffering 
     

  
Some patients fear that palliative care would leave them semi-anaesthetized
ForAgainst
  • Some patients would prefer to die while they are fully alert and able to say goodbye to their family 
     

  
Some patients prefer death to dependency
ForAgainst
  • These patients hate relying on other people for all their bodily functions, and the consequent loss of privacy and dignity 
     

  
Competent palliative care may well be enough to prevent a person feeling any need to contemplate euthanasia
ForAgainst
  • Pros and cons to palliative care 
     

  
Suffering may have value
ForAgainst
     
  • You have given no explanation to this to support your fierce assumption. 

  
(co) Doctors should not be allowed to decide when people die
ForAgainst
     
  • Doctors take this sort of decision all the time when they make choices about treatment
  • Any medical action that extends life changes the time when a person dies and we don’t worry about that
  • Doctors do this all the time, by the nature of their job 

  
Life should not be given up under any circumstance
ForAgainst
  • Human life is intrinsically valuable 

  
Death is not a bad thing
ForAgainst
  • death is the worst possible violation of out autonomy 

  
(co) Being dead is not different from not having been born yet
ForAgainst
     

  
death hurts people, not being born does not
ForAgainst
  • death stops people having more of the things that they want, and could have if they continued to live 
  • When life is no longer considered as a good thing, and there is no more wants in life, death may not necessary hurt. Being born can also hurt the newborn 

  
It is impossible to draft laws and guidelines that will prevent the abuse of euthanasia
ForAgainst

  
Vulnerable patients can be better protected if there were set procedures and rules that had to be followed for euthanasia than they are at present
ForAgainst
  • Patients who fear that they are under pressure to decide in favor of euthanasia can be able to gain help by initiating the formal procedures 
     

  
It’s hard to imagine that creating a structure to regulate euthanasia will have a worse result than not having any regulations at all
ForAgainst
  • Euthanasia will continue to take place even though it’s illegal, it would surely be better to make it legal and regulate it so as to minimize abuse 
     

  
There is no reason why euthanasia cannot be controlled by proper regulation
ForAgainst
  • An analogy can be sought in the case of murder: laws prohibits murder, but that does not stop bad people committing murders 
     

  
Voluntary euthanasia is the start of a slippery slope that leads to involuntary euthanasia and the killing of people who are thought undesirable
ForAgainst
  • It is impossible to ensure that all acts of euthanasia are truly voluntary 

  
More danger of the line between voluntary and non-voluntary euthanasia being blurred if euthanasia is practiced in the absence of legal recognition
ForAgainst
  • There will be no transparency or monitoring if there is no law 
     

  
Euthanasia is necessary for the fair distribution of health resources
ForAgainst
  • Allowing people to commit euthanasia can free resources to treat people who want to live in place where there is a shortage of health resources 

  
Such proposal is wide-open to abuse: it will lead to involuntary euthanasia because of shortage of health resource
ForAgainst
  • people will be expected to commit euthanasia as soon as they become an unreasonable burden on society 
     

  
Euthanasia is morally acceptable
ForAgainst
     

  
Euthanasia promotes the best interests of everyone involved and violates no one’s right
ForAgainst
     

  
Euthanasia might not be in a person’s best interests
ForAgainst
  • The patient may be feeling vulnerable
  • The patient may feel that he or she is a worthless burden on others
  • The patient may be under pressure from other people to feel that he or she is a burden
  • The patient requests euthanasia because of a passing phase of his or her disease, but is likely to feel much better in a while
  • The patient may have an unrealistic fear of the pain and suffering that lie ahead
  • The patient may be confused and unable to make sensible judgments
  • The diagnosis may be wrong and the patient may not be terminally ill
  • The patient may be getting bad medical care and the suffering could be relieved by other means
  • The doctor maybe unaware of all the non-fatal options that could be offered to the patient
  • The patient may be depressed and therefore believe things are much worse than they are
  • People are sometimes wrong about what’s in their best interest 
     

  
The patient may be under pressure from other people to feel that he or she is a burden
ForAgainst
  • The patient may be under pressure because of a shortage of resources to care for them 
     

  
Human beings have the right to die when and how they want to
ForAgainst

  
Individuals should balance their individual right to die against by any bad consequences that it might have for the community in general
ForAgainst
     

  
The right to die is not purely a subjective choice but a communitarian decision
ForAgainst
     

  
Euthanasia is not a private act, it may produce negative effects on society in general
ForAgainst
     

  
Euthanasia weakens society’s respect for the sanctity of life
ForAgainst
     

  
Allowing euthanasia will lead to less good care for the terminally ill
ForAgainst
     

  
Euthanasia may become a cost-effective way to treat the terminally ill
ForAgainst
     

  
Shortening the last period of patient through euthanasia is a way of relieving pressure on scarce medical resources and family finance
ForAgainst
  • Lethal medication required for euthanasia is much cheaper comparing to continuing treatment for many medical conditions
  • The last few months of a patients’ life are often the most expensive in terms of medical and other care 
     

  
Allowing euthanasia undermines the commitment of doctors and nurses to saving lives
ForAgainst
  • Euthanasia undermines the motivation to provide good care for the dying, and good pain relief
  • Allowing euthanasia will discourage the search for new cures and treatments for the terminally ill 
     

  
Legalizing euthanasia will result in bad consequences that are practical, such as making euthanasia easier and so putting vulnerable at risk
ForAgainst
     

  
Euthanasia exposes vulnerable people to pressure to end their lives
ForAgainst
  • Patients who are abandoned by their families may feel euthanasia is the only solution
  • E.g. moral pressure on elderly relatives by selfish families, or moral pressure to free up medical resources 
     

  
We should respect the autonomous choice of a rational, competent human being
ForAgainst
     

  
We can never have sufficient evidence to justify that a dying person’s request of euthanasia is competent, enduring and genuinely voluntary
ForAgainst
     

  
There are patients who are so ill or mentally confused that cannot make competent choice
ForAgainst
     

  
A person can, in advance of losing the capacity to give competent, and voluntary consent, how she is to be treated should she become terminally ill
ForAgainst
     

  
It is unlikely for someone to make a competent, enduring choice upon such issue without having yet suffered the illness
ForAgainst
     

  
The objection is too paternalistic to accept
ForAgainst
  • It is possible for a person to have sufficient inductive evidence to know her own mind and act accordingly 
     

  
Every person has the right to control his or her body and life
ForAgainst
  • Human being should be as free as possible, unnecessary restraints on human rights are a bad thing