Euthanasia Should Be Allowed And Protected By Legislation

It’s My Death, My Choice The elderly woman lies in bed in extreme pain, she has months to live and wants to leave the world on her own terms. Sadly, the state she lives in has not legalized euthanasia and she is forced to live with the excruciating mental and physical pain for many more months. Many believe that a person who is terminally ill should retain the right to choose whether or not they want to die and defend the practice by saying it is financially suitable. Euthanasia should be allowed and protected by legislation because it a human’s ethical right to die and it is also economically sensible. Narratio Euthanasia is used to terminate the life of a patient to cease their suffering. â€Å"The word â€Å"euthanasia† comes from the Greek†¦show more content†¦Euthanasia generally takes place when it is the â€Å"act of bringing about the death of a hopelessly ill and suffering person in a relatively quick and painless way for reasons of mercy† (Night 1). Euthanasia can take place anywhere including a hospital or even a patient’s home. This practice has even been observed as early as the time of the ancient Mesopotamian civilization’s rise. In Sparta, it was the common practice for â€Å"each newborn child to be examined for signs of disability or sickliness which, if found, led to his death† (â€Å"Global History of† 2). This custom was meant to protect society from the unnecessary encumbrance of caring for the disabled. In ancient Greece, the physician provided a poisoned drink to a patient that was in extreme pain and in the fifteen th to seventeenth centuries, the practice of euthanization started to be studied. Sir Thomas More is known as the first priest to advocate for euthanasia. (â€Å"Global History of† 3). The social consensus nearing the nineteenth century began to air in favor of the practice. Efforts to legalize euthanasia began to surface in the US in the early twentieth century, however most of these proposals were rejected. The controversy that surrounds the practice of euthanasia revolves around multiple components of the practice. The main argument centers on whether or not euthanasia is an ethical practice. Many believe