Euthanasia is defined as the act of killing someone painlessly. The controversial idea surrounding euthanasia is whether or not it should be used to speed up the deaths of people that are terminally or incurably ill. It would give people the power of choice over whether they want to suffer and live a little longer or let go and die quickly. The main problem with euthanasia is that is if became fully legal, it would end up happening far too often and people would die when they could have lived. Although it is possible that some people could misuse the idea of euthanasia, it is also true that making euthanasia legal would help and the suffering of many people because they would be able to choose to ask for an assisted suicide.

If euthanasia was outright legalized, some doctor would simply ask their patients with serious injuries if they wanted an assisted suicide or some form of overdose. If these people were in extreme pain, they may very well agree even though they could have lived and moved on with life. This is especially true regarding military members who return from war missing limbs, various senses like sight, or their sanity. If they have no one to support them afterwards they may just ask to be killed. Also, what would happen if someone has mental instabilities? How would their decisions be regarded? There isn’t just a patients perspective to this either, the medical practitioners that would end up being the ones to help in the suicides would end up with warped senses of morality. They would essentially be given the right to kill patients. One such example of how doctors could try to decide for their patients is the story of Simon Fitzmaurice. He contracted a case of pneumonia severe enough to put him in a hospital bed with an eating and breathing tube. His doctor pressured him to have the machines keeping him alive turned off simply because it is very rare for people to live away from a hospital with a ventilator. (Fitzmaurice)

In the case of Simon Fitzmaurice, other people tried to pressure him to accept death. That is not the purpose of euthanasia, the purpose is so that people that cannot nor will not live for much longer and choose to die earlier than they otherwise would. A key word is “choose.” Euthanasia is not something that should be pushed onto someone. Dianne Pretty was diagnosed with a neuron disease that was very painful and completely incurable. It wasn’t just painful to her, but also to her husband and family who probably had to sit by and watch her slowly die. To avoid that circumstance she petitioned the court to give her husband immunity so that he could help her in a suicide. She openly declared that she did not want to live and wanted her husband to help her die. Her husband was not granted immunity and she eventually came to a long drawn out, painful and unnecessary death. She should have been allowed to choose to die instead of being forced to suffer. (Pretty)

However, sometimes people’s decisions shouldn’t be honored. Hannah Jones was only thirteen years old when she discovered she had a severe heart condition that required multiple surgeries to cure. Not one doctor ever said that she wouldn’t live, it would just be painful. She alone decided that she did not want to go through another surgery and that she preferred to die. In this circumstance, it is absolutely her right to decline having an operation done. She had personally decided that it was not worth it to live further. Yet, is she had asked for an assisted suicide, she would have been declined. This is because Hannah had every chance to live, and she did, in fact, change her mind and is living a perfectly healthy life. The point of euthanasia is that it would entirely come down to the choice of the person whose life is in question, but no one should be killed if there is any chance for survival. Sometimes living is the harder decision but it has to be made. (Jones)

A person should never be forced to suffer in life yet that is what happens today. Everyone deserves the right to die, the right to make the choice whether to live or die. There are indeed problems with euthanasia but with proper monitoring and control euthanasia could very well help thousands of people that are only suffering. Euthanasia needs to be legalized but very well controlled. If there are mistreatments just because someone most likely won’t make it, then that is a serious matter that needs to be legally dealt with but in the meantime, there is pain in the world that can be easily prevented. According to a study conducted by the National Library of Medicine in the Netherlands, where “euthanasia has been defined since 1985 as the administration of drugs with the explicit intention to end life at the explicit request of a patient,” clear evidence has been found that shows that there has been no progression of mistreatment of patients. In fact, the majority of physicians and doctors approve of the legalization of euthanasia because it improved their legal certainty and carefulness with life terminating acts. In other words, they are more careful about who they help die and they better understand their legal powers as medical practitioners.

"Top 10 Pros and Cons - Euthanasia - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. American Civil Liberties Union, 10 Dec. 1996. Web. 20 May 2014.
Fitzmaurice, Simon. "Personal Stories : Euthanasia." Life Zone. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2014. <http://www.prolifeinfo.ie/issues/euthanasia/personal-stories--euthanasia/>.

Jones, Hannah. "Personal Stories : Euthanasia." Life Zone. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2014. <http://www.prolifeinfo.ie/issues/euthanasia/personal-stories--euthanasia/>.
Pretty, Dianne. "Rsrevision.com/applied Ethics." Case Studies of Euthanasia. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2014. <http://www.rsrevision.com/Alevel/ethics/euthanasia/cases.htm>.