Euthanasia is Ethical

My rebuttals are as follows Rebuttals Living Wills As mentioned in Pro"s statement, a living will is a written expression of how patients want to be treated in certain medical conditions. Depending on the state law, this document may permit patients to express whether or not they wish to be given life-sustaining treatments in the event that they are terminally ill or injured. It is not unreasonable for someone to argue that if living wills are legally permissible, then euthanasia, in theory, should find its strongest legal ground, and subsequently, there is nothing unethical about it. But something that is legally permissible is not always morally acceptable, and vice versa. For instances, The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a United States federal law that defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one women, was censured on both legal and moral grounds. Obama administration even instructed the Department of Justice not to defend the statute in the Court. There are many other controversial regulations and/or legislations, which are not entirely appropriate for this debate, existing in both States and Federal levels; collectively, they can be used to show that legitimacy is not the same as morality. No matter what patients have decided to include in their living wills, the very fact that euthanasia demands the involvement of the third party has remained. A murder is no less a murder just because he or she has some quasi-justifiable reasons for the killing. Moreover, the unnecessary involvement of the physicians inevitably exposes them to some very distributing conditions. Externally, strong social condemnations from those who vehemently fight against the practice of euthanasia would effectively compromise some of the routine activities conducted by the physicians; Internally, the burden of death would severely damage their sprits and corrupt their souls. Therefore, even if living wills can be viewed as an legitimate exercise of one"s right, euthanasia would still be considered morally unacceptable. The Right to Die The "refusal or termination of life-saving medical treatment" is not the same as "intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering. " The refusal of treatments is an activity initiated by the dying patients, "intentionally ending a life"is, however, an action usually taken by physicians in this case. A physician ends a life-saving medical treatment may not out of intention of reliving pain and suffering. I have no objection that "a mentally competent, terminally ill person has protected liberty interest in choosing to end intolerable suffering by bring about his or her own death", but such death does not have to involve medical procedures. And even though the death does require the assistance of physicians, as I have addressed in the above reasonings, it cannot be justified on the moral grounds. Therefore, even though a terminally ill person should enjoy the right to die, euthanasia may still be morally deplored. Patient Suffering at End-of-Life- Even though I voice no objections regarding the contention that Americans should enjoy a right guaranteed in the European Declaration of Human Rights (although the cultural differences may effectively bar this from happening), it is still not clear how granting such rights to the americans can be related to euthanasia. As suggested by Pro in his definitions, euthanasia is a practice of "intentionally ending a life," no where in the contention has he suggested that patients cannot commit suicide in order to relive the pains and therefore effectively remove himself or herself from this world. Even though they cannot do without the involvement of euthanasia, as mentioned in the proceeding arguments, the practice is still unethical. Government Involvement in End-of-Life Decisions The argument does not explicitly state what kind of role that euthanasia would play in here, let alone the ethical issue. Family, for examples, could act on behalf of patients to make informative decisions. Appealing to communities opinions would be another option. Religious involvement is another choice. None of the above choices even remotely suggest that euthanasia is necessary. Merely because the government and judges should not be asked to get involved in the decisions, consequently, we must accept the practice of Euthanasia as a moral practice? It is not entirely clear to me what this "Government involvement" has anything to do with statement "Euthanasia is Ethical. " References . http://en.wikipedia.org... Thank you.