Suffering and Voluntary Euthanasia

The controversial issue of Euthanasia or assisted suicide has been widely argued over many years and present. Euthanasia literally means dying without suffering. Recently, a law of euthanasia has been legalized and made in the state of Oregon. There are people who agree the law of euthanasia, even though there are also people who strongly oppose it. The following articles examine questions and answers about issues on euthanasia or assisted suicide. The articles are “In Defense of Voluntary Euthanasia” by Sidney Hook, “Promoting a Culture of Abandonment” by Teresa R. Wagner, “The Right to Choose Death” by Kenneth Swift, and “Death and the Law: Why the Government Has an Interest in Preserving Life” by Lawrence Rudden and Gerard V. Bradley. Hook and Swift are people who support euthanasia. In contrast, Wagner, Rudden and Bradley don’t think euthanasia does any good to others. Since there are diversity views on euthanasia, authors argue on various issues of euthanasia in different ways.

Do people want euthanasia? Authors explain their thoughts about euthanasia in humanitarian and moral way. Hook believes we should have euthanasia because patients can’t handle any more pain and suffering. Most importantly, they have already paid their “dues to death.” Why do they need to suffer more (Hook 238)? In addition, they are not the only one who suffers. Mainly, patients’ family would also suffer and burdened with anxiety of their health. Due to the fact that disruption occurred and affected their normal life, euthanasia is a solution to patients who don’t want any more pressure added to patients’ family (238). Eventually not everyone wants euthanasia. Wagner thinks that enough abandonment is happening in our society and community, like “abandoning each other “in marriages. Another example would be abortion, which teaches “society to abandon mothers, and mothers to abandon their children.” We shouldn’t influence the culture of abandonment more by having euthanasia. We can’t