Euthanasia Persuasive Essay

There is one question which has haunted and shaped society for thousands of years. It underlies all human relationships. It underlies all ethical decisions. The question is: 'Am I my brother's keeper?' The answering of that question has led, throughout history, to the righting of major injustices, like the abolition of the slave trade. But the usual answer to that archetypal question may be about to be rewritten in the United Kingdom. The answer 'yes' is about to be replaced by the answer 'no'.

Let me put it another way: 'Can I be my brother's killer?' For thousands of years the answer has been 'no'; but in legal terms, in the UK, the answer 'yes' is being seriously proposed: 'Yes, you may kill your brother in certain defined circumstances'.

When euthanasia was considered by a House of Lords Select Committee in 1993-4, it said this:

... society's
There are approximately 140,000 natural deaths in the Netherlands each year. Almost 10.000 requests for euthanasia are made annually; about 3,500 actually receive euthanasia and approximately 300 are assisted suicides. Somewhere between 1 in 32 and 1 in 38 of all deaths in the Netherlands are now via euthanasia/assisted suicide. In addition, it is estimated that there are about 1,000 deaths per annum where doctors end a patient's life without an explicit request; for example, those who are in a coma.

I need to point out that the medical system in the Netherlands is very different from ours - and that palliative care provision is a relatively new phenomenon. The figures from Holland, worry me greatly - I need to add that in the Netherlands you do not have to be terminally ill to request help to die:

We do not exclude … exceptional situations in which, for instance, somebody who is fifty-five and has a very severe but incurable mental illness which relates to a situation of hopeless and unbearable suffering, and asks for assisted