April/2005Theme #8The Right to DieEveryone has several rights from their birth. The right of self-determination and the right to life are included among those rights. The point euthanasia is the right of self-determination and the right to life. In modern society, the increasing average span of human life by the development of modern medical science causes the increasing of brain dead patients, vegetative existences and hopeless cases. Therefore people concentrate on euthanasia more and more. Before considering euthanasia, we should have a clear conception of euthanasia, because if you think about the act of euthanasia without the title of euthanasia, it is aiding and abetting homicide. The current definition of euthanasia with the world is when the hopeless patients, who are suffering with deadly pain, complain of their pain, help them that they can commit suicide with poison or any other ways or remove the life support to brain dead patients, vegetative existences that they can die with no pain. Euthanasia is not a strangers’ story anymore. It can be my family’s story or my best friend’s story. If one of your family members had a serious accident and had to live the rest of his/her life in great pain, what are you going to do? Your only choice is just watching the patient if you don’t have a choice of euthanasia. Therefore euthanasia should be allowed for the following three reasons.First of all, think about how painful the patient is. Even though there is no one who knows how big the pain is apart from the patient himself/herself, we can surmise in some measure. The patients who consider administering euthanasia usually suffer from huge pain that we can’t imagine how big it is. Also their family suffers from watching the patients’ condition and they will think, “Can it be a person’s life?” or “Does the patient really want to lead a life like this?” Life can not be made up just of the action of breathing. Therefore, people look for the solution of euthanasia, which is extreme but a choice.Second, let’s take a utilitarian view of this problem. Of course, nobody can measure a human’s life, but imagine how many patients can be cured if a brain dead patient donates his/her organs. Corneas, a heart, a liver, kidneys, at least more than four patients will be offered a new life. One thing that should be remembered is that the object of euthanasia will be limited only to the patients who have no hope of recovery. If a person’s death can revive another person’s life it will be more valuable than just a deadly suffering patient’s death.Third, to prevent shady euthanasia, euthanasia should be allowed. Davis Ash, a doctor at Pennsylvania University, who researched a survey of 852 nurses who worked in intensive care units, found that more than 20% of nurses had experiences that gave euthanasia to patients, and a more astonishing fact is, 58 nurses who had no agreement of the patients’ family or the patient’s agreement gave euthanasia to patients. If the patients who had a shady euthanasia by these nurses had a will to keep live their life, who can give back their life to them? To prevent this conduct, euthanasia should be allowed officially, so that rules can be developed and applied.We can’t reject euthanasia anymore. Euthanasia involves our lives, and we have to face up to it. Of course, there are many problems that it be legal, but if euthanasia is enforced within the qualified limits, there will be no problem. Considering patients’ pain, the view of HYPERLINK "http://kr.dic.yahoo.com/search/eng/result.html?pk=0128860&p=utilitarianism%20&subtype=eng|colo|exam|text|eng|colo|exam|text" utilitarianism, and to prevent shady euthanasias, euthanasia should be allowed.