Euthanasia
Madelein du Plessis 3635464
Euthanasia is the practice of intentionally ending a life, to end suffering of a terminally ill person or relieve pain. People who consider euthanasia usually has an incurable condition. There are other instances where some people also want their life to be ended. We all would like to have a good death for our relatives, loved ones and ourselves.
For my first clinical block this year I was placed at Groote Schuur Hospital in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). In the ICU you get exposed to different conditions and patient’s stability vary. Some patients get better faster, while other patients’ quality of life decrease while in ICU and the patient is kept alive by varies machines. These patients that stay there with little hope to recover, put a lot of stress on their loved ones who see them suffering and that have to pay the hospital bills. There is instances where there is hope for the patient to improve. But on the other hand there are patients that are in pain and has less hope to stay alive or recover. If they can have a choice in how their life ends, it may be beneficial to them and their families.
Euthanasia is one of the most controversial topics around the world today. Each country has different laws regarding it and as of 2006 it has become the most active area of research in bioethics. There are a lot of arguments for and against euthanasia and a lot of factors that plays a role why some people are for and why some are against euthanasia.
One of the main arguments for euthanasia is to help end the suffering of someone with an incurable disease or pain. Euthanasia can also give the patient freedom of choice to make the suffering shorter, and that can also affect the family and help them to go through the grieving process easier. They will have time with their loved one to say the last goodbyes and start to prepare for what lies ahead. It also gives the patient a chance to die with dignity, in a way that they want to and can control. It is more acceptable for some to allow a person with incurable suffering to be allowed to choose to end that suffering. It gives the patient control over the last bit of quality of their lives to be able to make the choice about how they feel, it give them a choice before their condition gets worse. After all only the patient self will know how he or she really feels (Koenane, 2017).
Some interesting statistics show that in countries where euthanasia is legal, euthanasia is only responsible for a total of between 0.3 and 4.6 percent of all deaths (Nordqvist, 2018). And more than 70 % of these involved cancer patients.
The main argument against euthanasia is mental health. Does the patient really know what they are about to do? The patient might be depressed and then that is more like assisted suicide, than euthanasia. Others argue that euthanasia cannot be properly controlled and that we never know, the patient might be able to recover (EJ, 2016). Or there might be new medical research that can cure the patient and relieve the pain and suffering. Religion and certain cultures also play a role, where there is a believed that it is wrong to take your life and euthanasia will be seen as murder.
Euthanasia poses a challenging ethical dilemma. Therefore one can expect to find myriad proposals on how to think about it. But every person will find himself somewhere between what is the existing laws ,which is supposed to be representative of common values, traceable back to constitutional rights on the on hand. On the other hand every person is bound by his or her believe system of values based on religious orientations and embedded cultural values. All of these might change during time and with regard to euthanasia we probably find ourselves at a crossroad regarding values and laws recently challenged by individuals following their own conscience and hence come against existing laws. On the other hand countries are changing laws and hence allowing such a practice while it might still be against a vast number of peoples “conscience”. It is therefore important to take part in this debate whilst forming and challenging your own values.
All these arguments for and against make it one of the most difficult and controversial ethical topics of the day. My personal experience showed me how difficult and controversial this topic really is. As Physiotherapist you want to do the most and best that you can for a patient and will always hope that the patient might get better and recover. But you are also exposed to the family and friends visiting and seeing how much they go through because of what is happening to the patients. You can also see some patient just want the option that they can just end the suffering. At the end of the day we want the patient to improve and have the best life possible, but what if that life is rather not to live anymore. We as medical professionals cannot always make that decision for them. But I think that it will make life easier for some if that option is available to patients .
References
EJ, E. (2016). Attitudes and Practices of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27380345
Koenane, M. L. (2017). Euthanasia in South Africa: Philosophical and theological considerations. Retrieved from www.scielo.org.za: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2074-77052017000100004
Nordqvist, C. (2018, December). What are euthanasia and assisted suicide. Retrieved from www.medicalnewstoday.com: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/182951.php
2 thoughts on “Euthanasia”
Hi Madelein
Thank you for your submission! You have chosen a very interesting topic to look into.
My first suggestion would be to explain why you choice this particular topic? Did you recently have an experience in clinical practice which made you think of how this could benefit or not benefit South Africa’s health system? Maybe include a little more information about your thought process.
You speak about the advantages and disadvantages this will have for a patient and their family, which is great, but have you thought about the advantages and disadvantages this would have on the South African public health system? Just some food for thought.
Another point you could discuss, is what you view on the matter is and why you think so.
There are a few grammatical errors, such as in paragraph one, sentence two “has” should be ‘have’. Sentence three should read, ” …also want their life to end.” Paragraph two, the last sentence,” There are a lot of arguments and factors that play a role why some people are pro and why some people are against euthanasia.”
These are just a few errors I picked up, maybe give it a good read through to make sure you picked them all up.
Lastly, don’t forget to include in text referencing and perhaps try to rearrange your introduction so that is better flows from one thought to the next.
But a great topic to discuss and well done so far! Good luck writing the rest.
Sonali Madhoo x
Hi Madelein,
Thank you for allowing me to read your piece on euthanasia. As stated, this is one of the most controversial topics around the world today. It was very interesting to read that in countries where euthanasia is legal, euthanasia is only responsible for a total of between 0.3 and 4.6 percent of the deaths. One would believe because it is such a topic of interest that the statistics would be more. Your writing piece matches the topic’s we discussed in class and therefore I will rate the content as good. However, it would be nice to get your insight on this topic. Perhaps think of adding why you decided to chose to write about euthanasia. I know in my own clinical practice experience I was faced with a patient that was so ill and everyday she asked me if she could rather die than continue with all the treatment. What can one do in that situation? It is always good to think about the situation from the patient’s perspective. Consider adding a real experience. This will add more content to the claims made.
I like the argument you made that euthanasia will help end suffering versus the mental health of patients considering euthanasia. It was easy to grasp why patient would want to make this decision and take matters into their own hands. Perhaps consider adding how people go about euthanasia in countries that allow it. How do they consider the patients mental health status and prevent assisted suicide?
By adding the reference from recent years to the writing piece made your argument stronger. The referencing is correct according to the APA-style. Consider adding more references about the other side of the argument, adding mental health, religion and culture.
Few grammar errors that I have noticed:
Second paragraph:
Second sentence – “There is a lot of arguments for and against euthanasia and a lot of factors that plays a role why soma are for and why some are against euthanasia.”
Change this to “There are a lot of arguments for and against euthanasia. Furthermore, there are a lot of factors that play a role in why some people are for and some are against euthanasia.”
Third paragraph:
Last sentence – Add coma after all, “After all, only the…”
Overall your writing piece was good and a nice to read. Maybe consider reading your writing piece out loud. This always helps me to figure out if my writing makes sense. I found it interesting that euthanasia is not responsible for more deaths in countries where it is allowed. I hope you find my comments useful. Good luck with your final.
All the best
Megan