Mercy Killings a Debate of the Right to Die

Mary Kay Elsner

Abnormal Psychology 470

Mercy Killings a Debate of the

Right to Die

Death brings about all kinds of emotions and feelings among human beings.

When an animal is very ill the owner

has the option to kill the animal through a lethal injection, why can we not

treat a human being with the same right? Legal or illegal is the question we

will address in this debate. A mercy killing is to allow a physician to assist

a terminally ill patient or a patient who wishes to quicken the process of the

physical death of the body. This too many, is considered a form of suicide, and

is not accepted by those who believe to take one’s own life is a sin and could

mean your soul not being allowed into heaven or just feel it is killing. The

real issue lies in what a person “feels” towards this topic and how a person’s

worldview is aligned with their thought of mercy killing. To give a person the

right to die or not is a difficult topic to address morally, spiritually and

emotionally.

The legalization of mercy killings

is a topic of debate all in itself. Rather if it is accepted or not, the true

question is, when do we allow a person to decide his or her own fate?  When a person is diagnosed with a

debilitating illness and the outcome is known, why can’t we allow this human

being to decide their fate and leave the earth with dignity and respect?  Mercy Killing as defined by Merriam- Webster

as ending life to someone who is ill, also known as euthanasia (Merriam-Webster,2014).

To sum it up, allowing an individual to leave their earthly body and enter into

eternal rest while maintaining their dignity. In contrast, those who believe

mercy killing is suicide and that the decedent will not find eternal rest based

on the fact they took their own life before God’s plan was fulfilled. We do not

understand God’s plan, his ways are not our ways in Isaiah 55:8-9  it states quite plainly, For

my thoughts are not your thoughts  neither are your ways my ways,” declares the

Lord. 9 “As the heavens are

higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my

thoughts than your thoughts (Bible, 1970). Maybe the person needs to live

longer to assist another person in an area of their life that would not be

fulfilled if their physician assists them to a quicker death. We have no way of

truly knowing God’s plan so as believers we should not allow mercy killing.

I understand the bible says thou

shall not kill in the 10 commandments. However, every day the county shelters

puts down sick and injured animals. Although this may be true, the Bible,

however, was not written for animals, it was written for humans. Why can’t we

consider this type of procedure for our sick and aged population? There is no

reason that Mercy Killings should not be legalized. What’s more, it will allow

dignity for the loved one who is suffering and will prevent such a costly

financial burden on our families. Health care cost is at an astronomical rate.

The rate of hospice care in 1987 was Ninety-Five dollars per day so now here we

are almost 30 years later the cost is now almost one thousand dollars per

day.  (Birnbaum, H., & Kidder, D.,

1987) Are we truly assisting our loved ones by allowing them to suffer for

days, weeks, months when their wishes are known and they wish to go in peace?

On the other hand, killing is

killing. Mercy killings should not be legal because a person is supposed to die

in God’s time not because they are uncomfortable, or want to save money or

decide they do not want to wait to get to heaven. (Again, if in the Great

Spirit’s eyes they committed suicide they may not even make it into heaven) This

argument can bring up a very emotional conversation, especially if the belief

system of the family is suicides go to hell and there is no opportunity for

that soul to move on to heaven. In first Thessalonians we read, “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly,

comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men, (Bible, 1970). This

scripture states we should be patient toward men, so why are we rushing their

death? My point of making it illegal is we are trying to play God.

Cloning people, saving those who are sick and trying desperately to make human

parts for people to live longer is against God’s law to some believers We have

an overpopulated planet that cannot feed the mouths we have now yet we want to

save everyone to live longer. For the same reason we should not be assisting

those to live longer than God intended we should not be helping people kill

themselves.

Many will argue that is illegal

to kill someone. This is true we should not just kill a person because we don’t

want to take on their medical and financial burden. However, if the individual

has stated their wishes and there is no cure for their disease, then who are we

to stand in the person’s way. In the Netherlands’ it is legal to commit a mercy

killing on an individual who is ill and is likely going to die. There law

requires the sick individual to follow with a formal request. Someone can’t

just go out and shoot them or add a poison to their drink. The individual must

be prepared to present their case. Physicians are not allowed to just make the

decision, it is a process that the patient must initiate and be at peace with

before they lose their ability to make healthy decisions. There was some

confusion in the Netherlands that many individuals would flock there just to

get these life altering measures. However, they made that impossible by

adhering strict patient physical relationship rules. Physicians must have a

relationship with the individual requesting mercy killing. Also note that a

patient must also have been diagnosed with an illness that will eventually end

in death.

The fight to legalize Mercy

Killings is a controversial topic. However, having been in the position seeing

your loved one suffering it is the right thing to do. Mercy Killings need to be

authorized in strict cooperation with the patient and physician. The patient should

make it known to their immediate family and friends as well as their Doctor in

order to ease the pain and confusion of the decision they want implemented. Physicians

or Hospitals should not be held liable as long as all guidelines are followed.

Mercy Killings should also be legalized to deter the high cost of healthcare.

With fewer individuals who require extensive care the cost of healthcare could

go down. On the other hand, allowing people to die just to save a buck seems

quite harsh and immoral on more levels than will be covered in this one paper.

All though many corners are cut and products suffer to save money.

Making the law of mercy killing,

euthanasia, and assisted suicide legal, would be very beneficial to the

individual by giving them the choice to live or to end their life due to certain

factors that may be occurring at the moment. If the individual cannot afford to

pay for medical cost or has too many physical disabilities they should have the

right to choose whether they want to die or not. The individual’s appeals to

die at the time have fundamental common law rights that are protected by the

Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). There have been

studies from researchers from the poll conducted by the Age newspaper that 3000

people found 82% in favor of legalizing euthanasia. This study is only 3000

people and I do not think it covers the entire population and their opinion.

If

an individual is diagnosed with terminal cancer they would receive treatment

for their terminal illness, which may lead to death toward the end; however,

the process of it all can have a person suffer before their death. Chemotherapy

is an example of a treatment that is given due to diagnoses to terminal cancer.

When taking chemotherapy individuals can suffer from pain and loss of weight.

The chemicals will eat their body from the inside. They will lose their dignity

and spirit. They will feel hallow inside and feel loss of appetite. Individuals

will go through these symptoms, but in the end the result may lead to death.

Why have an individual suffer, if they choose to end their life and suffering

they should have the right to do so.

Although this may be true, death is

to be decided by the one who created life, not by humans. For the same reason,

the religious argument against euthanasia and assisted suicide is the only one

that could make a real difference, since as has been shown, the philosophical, legal,

and professional arguments for and against euthanasia and assisted suicide seem

to balance each other out (Thomasma, 1996a, pp. 62–76; Brody, 1992, pp.

1384–1388). Not all religions feel the same about death, however monotheism

beliefs tend to belief that suicide, or assisted suicide is not to be

tolerated. Abortion can also come into play here because killing a child no

matter how old it is or how developed falls under the same pretense of playing

God.

In conclusion, there are many facets

to this discussion and the debate will continue. The value of human life or the

need to allow a human not to suffer is very difficult questions to answer for

Christians, Agnostics or Atheists. I think the discussion will change person to

person depending on if they have had to watch someone die from a terminal

illness. No answer is correct and both sides make very valid points. Moving

forward it will have to be decided based on the laws set forth from country to

country or state to state.

References

Board of trustees of the

confraternity of Christian doctrine. (1970). The new american bible. New

York NY: Catholic book publishing.

Birnbaum, H., & Kidder, D.

(1987, July 1). Result Filters. National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Retrieved May 17, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6377932

Jackson, A. (2013). ‘Thou Shalt

Not Kill; But Needst Not Strive Officiously to Keep Alive’: Further

Clarification of the Law regarding Mercy Killing, Euthanasia and Assisted

Suicide. Journal Of Criminal Law, 77(6), 468-475.

Mercy killing. (n.d.). Retrieved

May 17, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mercy

killing

N.A.

(n.d). Mercy killing legal. Herald Sun (Melbourne)

Park, J. (2013).

Advantages of the premature-death approach to the right-to-die.

Retrieved from http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/PREM-DTH.html

Thomasma, D. C. (1998). Assisted Death and Martyrdom.

Christian Bioethics: Non-Ecumenical Studies In Medical Morality, 4(2),

122-142.