Oregon's "Death With Dignity" Act should be a national law

Euthanasia is also one of those issues where many people, including me, sympathise with the arguments both in favour of legalisation as well as those against. For example, if I saw a badly-injured animal in great distress, suffering a lingering and agonising death, I'd put it out of its misery. That would be the kindest thing to do. However, if I were to extend the same act of kindness to a human being in similar circumstances, I would expect to be charged with murder. Nevertheless, I am opposed the legalisation of euthanasia. I think we should accept that there is no "right" or "wrong" on this issue: we just have to weigh up the pros and cons to reach a decision on whether or not euthanasia should be legalised based on the balance of the arguments put forward. My primary concern with legalising euthanasia is that terminally-ill people could be placed under undue pressure to end their lives prematurely and, whilst I recognise the various checks and balances the State of Oregon has put in place to protect vulnerable patients from succumbing to such pressure are robust, it is still open to manipulation and interpretation: no legislation is infallible. For this, and other reasons, currently, there are very few places in the world where euthanasia is legal but one of those places is Switzerland where perhaps the world's best-known establishment specialising in assisting people to end their lives, Dignitas, is located. This private clinic arranges "accompanied suicide" for clients from around the world. (1) We need to ask ourselves if assisted suicide is always in a patient's best interest, even though they fully agree to the procedure. Consider, if you will, this tragic but all-too-common scenario: A couple in their early twenties, both with good jobs, buy a nice house, get married and look forward to starting a family together. However, soon afterwards, the husband is diagnosed with a debilitating and incurable condition. Within months the ailment has rendered him housebound and he has to give up his job. Then, as his illness worsens he requires around-the-clock care so his wife gives up her job to look after him. As the months turn into years, the wife, though she loves her husband dearly, realises that the best years of her life are passing her by and also that her biological clock is ticking: if she doesn't have children soon she never will. This thought upsets the wife greatly as her main goal in life has always been to have children, and her parents desperately want grandchildren too. Sadly, her husband's illness has made him infertile and, in any case, looking after young children and her husband at the same time would be a physical and financial impossibility. One day her parents come to visit the couple and, out her husband's earshot, she discusses her regrets about missing out on a proper family life with them. Her parents are, naturally, very sympathetic and are also concerned about their daughter's long-tem happiness, so, on their journey home they discuss what could be done to resolve the situation. A couple of weeks later, it is the morning of the couple's wedding anniversary and the wife is opening the mail at her husband"s bedside. One envelope is addressed to both of them and, recognising the handwriting, she realises it is from her father. She opens it and pulls out a greeting card and as she does she discovers it also contains some documentation: two air tickets to Zurich, one return and the other one-way, together with some gift vouchers from Dignitas. Inside the card her parents had written: "Happy wedding anniversary but we think it would be best for everybody if this was the last. " The immediate reaction of the wife is shocked embarrassment while her husband is, understandably, outraged. However, as his wife explained the background to the incident to him he becomes calm and reflective, and finally he turns to her and says, "Darling, I love you with all my heart and I always will, but you deserve to be with a man that can give you what I never will be able to: children and a normal family life; but whilst I am still around that will never be possible. You have sacrificed a lot for me over the years and my conscience won't allow me to be any further burden on you. It's time for me to make a sacrifice for you for a change, but don't feel sorry for me, I've always wanted to visit Switzerland. " This harrowing tale illustrates how a terminally-ill man reached the decision to end his life prematurely by being prompted to do so by his relatives, even though they were well-meaning. Furthermore, there are some families who are more motivated by financial gain and sometimes the beneficiaries of a terminally-ill patient's will or life insurance policy might be anxious to get their hands on the money without delay. The prospect of ready cash can be a powerful incentive for them to put undue pressure on the patient to take his life early. Other patients might decide on euthanasia mainly because they feel neglected. In evidence given to the Canadian Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide one expert stated: "I have seen . . . AIDS patients who have been totally abandoned by their parents, brothers and sisters and by their lovers. In a state of total isolation, cut off from every source of life and affection, they would see death as the only liberation open to them. In those circumstances, subtle pressure could bring people to request immediate, rapid, painless death, when what they want is close and powerful support and love. " (2) In conclusion, there are many reasons why euthanasia should be permitted but I hope you will agree that the prospect of ending human lives unnecessarily early when that is not in the patients' best interests means that we must err on the side of caution and resist calls for it to be legalized. Thank you. (1) . http://www.dignitas.ch... (2) . http://www.bbc.co.uk...