by Lisa Fillers

Created on: August 18, 2008

It is often said to have knowledge is to have power. To argue any point of view on any subject with someone of opposite opinion one must be armed with more than just how they feel about a particular subject.

The definition of ethical is honorable, moral, and is further defined as conforming to accepted standards of social or professional behavior.

At one time the word euthanasia meant the good death and old dictionaries defined it as dying well or departing life quietly and well.

In recent years euthanasia has taken on a darker, more sinister meaning and today is most commonly defined as a doctor taking the life of a patient by lethal injection. This form of euthanasia often occurs in doctor assisted suicides. However, it also includes death by deprivation of all food and water, a very slow and agnonizing death for both the patient and the patient's family to endure.

There is nothing honorable or moral in taking the life of another human being and it does not conform to the general population's idea of accepted standards of social or professional behavior.

To allow ourselves to become complacent with euthanasia is to put our own lives and those of our loved ones at risk.

Currently in the United States there is a political agenda afloat to bring about socialized medicine. It touts one of the benefits of socialized medicine as being that everyone would have health coverage. What they do no tell you is that no one will be able to get in to see a physician when they really need one due to huge waiting lists and bureaucratic red tape designed to stall you from the use of medical facilities until you no longer need to see a physician. In a socialized medical world you are no longer Jonathan Smith or Janelle Brown. You become John or Jane Doe, a number in a system. When it comes to crunching numbers to meet budget cuts, you are at the mercy of the government. Is it not then very plausible to believe that when you become a drain on a socialized medical system you will be euthanized?

If euthanasia is legalized due to our complacency then a medical degree becomes a license to kill. It is with good reason euthanasia is not legalized in all countries. It became legal in Holland in 2002. According to ProQuest Information and Learning Company many elderly Dutch people are afraid to go to the doctor. They are afraid to take the medicine prescribed by their doctors because they do not know if it is something to help them or to kill them. In 2006 it became legal in Holland for physicians

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>