Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide

Right-to-die" advocates claim that the elderly and those with disabilities fear becoming a financial burden on their loved ones and would rather chose death. They state that next to pain and suffering this is the second most important reason people want to die by euthanasia. A survey in Oregon, U.S.A., one of the few places where "assisted dying" is legal, showed , however, that in 66% of cases the reason for patients' requests was because they did not want to be a burden. A vast majority of Americans say they want to die at home, but 75 percent die in a hospital or a nursing home. Also, something like 18 to 20 percent of Americans spend their last days in an ICU( Intensive Care Unit ). And, it's extremely expensive, also uncomfortable. Many times they have to be sedated so that they don't reflexively pull out a tube, or sometimes their hands are restrained. This is not the way most people would want to spend their last days of life. And yet this has become almost the medical last rites for people as they die. How people die -- and what it costs -- depends largely on where you get care. That's the revelation of a major national database widely regarded as the best hospital-by-hospital look at the cost of dying. In the United States, thousands of people have no medical insurance; studies have shown that the poor and minorities generally are not given access to available pain control, and managed-care facilities are offering physicians cash bonuses if they don't provide care for patients. With greater and greater emphasis being placed on managed care, many doctors are at financial risk when they provide treatment for their patients. Legalized euthanasia raises the potential for a profoundly dangerous situation in which doctors could find themselves far better off financially if a seriously ill or disabled person "chooses" to die rather than receive long-term care. Over all, America has serious health care problems, serious cost control in the health care industry