Someone you love is fighting for life, when the death is certain. There is no hope of that person living, but if he lives, he would be living to suffer more pain. His life will be nothing but just a misery for himself and trouble for others. Imagine someone living in a coma for years with no sign of recovery. The people who care about him can not see the state that person is going though. The hospital bills add up everyday. The financial burden increases. Every time you see that person, your heart weeps, and you wish for his death, the easy death, so he could be freed from this pain. Your wish is denied because euthanasia, mercy killing, is not legal in the United States, except for Oregon. You imagine now how cheerful he once was. Imagine how he lived and compare this with how he is dying. He enjoyed his right to live, why can't he enjoy his right to death, easy death, and death with less suffering when death is so sure? He should be given his right to death. Euthanasia must be legalized in the United States of America.

Euthanasia, also known as physician assisted suicide, is open to debate, as to whether it should be legalized in the United States or not. Most people who are against euthanasia say it is morally wrong to legalize it. They say that with euthanasia being allowed we might be killing patients who could have been saved. However, these people fail to see that along with euthanasia, the laws stating the conditions under which it should be allowed will also be implemented. To end someone’s suffering can never be morally wrong. In fact, it is morally wrong for a society to tell an individual how to control his own life. If an individual chooses to die, then by all means, he has that right; the right is paramount, given that there is no harm to others and his decision does well to himself and the people around him.

Every person wants to die an easy death. During their last stage of life, they want to spend time with their loved ones. They want to have some quality time that would leave sweet memories behind. No one wants to die on hospital bed, struggling and fighting against the pain even after knowing the fact that pain is invincible. Sad but true, this is how many Americans die, in a hospital fighting against painful death. Describing how many Americans die, Dr. Steven Pantilat, director of the palliative care service at UCSF, says, "The way we die in America is often very different from the way we want to die. We can do better by giving people time with their families, allowing them to be at home. But most end up prisoners of technology" (qtd. in Ryan A-17). Legalizing mercy killing in America can offer Americans quality time with their family, with minimum time on a hospital bed. Euthanasia will remind others about how peacefully you died rather than how much trouble you had dying. Legalizing euthanasia is like eliminating bad times that would have shadowed the good times.

Medical treatment here in the United States is very expensive and the number of people without health insurance is growing every year. One of the census report states, “at the end of September [2001] found that the number of Americans without health insurance rose to 41.2 million last year, a rise of 2.5 million from the figure that had been reported for 2000” (Martin 1). The number of people without health insurance is even higher today. With so many people uninsured, imagine the cost that one has to pay in order to elaborate one’s pain by keeping him alive with treatments that cost a 'fortune’ when one is incurably ill. This would be spending money on something meaningless or hopeless. This does not mean that one’s life can be measured in terms of money. Life always has a greater value than any amount of money. But what about the side effects that particular life is causing? The money spent on something hopeless could have been spent on education or something productive. Every cent spent on that hopeless case is a cent taken away from that person’s family. It is even worst when that person knows it is not worth it and desires death. Not legalizing euthanasia is like adding extra financial burden to the family of a person who is already suffering so much.

America is the nation that respects democracy. In other words, the American government allows its people to choose things which they think are beneficial for them and causes no harm to others. American government provides its people with choices on “how to live.” However, what it lacks to give the choice on “how do die.” Legalizing euthanasia is offering American people with the choice of death, a choice which they can choose not to choose if they don’t want it. It is obvious in a free democratic society that individuals have a right to make their own decisions on matters that are primarily their own concern. If someone decides to end their life because they know that they are hopelessly, desperately and incurably ill, it should be respected. Legalizing euthanasia is respecting the self-determination of a person and his decision to die an easy death.
People against euthanasia often say legalizing euthanasia is like providing doctors with a “license to kill.” They claim that legalization of physician assisted suicide would create more cases of homicide. They are correct on this. Killing someone is a homicide, but not necessarily a crime. If someone kills in their self defense then it is not considered as a crime. It is always legal to defend oneself. With euthanasia, one defends oneself from a painful death. People who say that legalizing euthanasia would increase more crime rate among doctors must think what they are saying. These people sound like the people who would say legalizing sex would lead to rape cases, so sex should not be legalized. There is nothing to fear with euthanasia being legal.

Every leaf has two sides, one smooth and the other rough. Euthanasia is no exception. It is not free from flaws. There will be cases where the mercy killing might be done for some self interest rather than the interest of the patients. For instance, if an organ donor is severely ill, then a doctor might try to convince his family that killing him would be the best option for all of them, even if his chance of living is ninety percent and give his organ to rich people who are willing to pay a high sum of money for the organ. However, this flaw can be minimized by coming up with strict laws which would tell doctors at what stage are they allow to relieve their patients from pain and suffering by giving them death. They should come up with enough evidence that the killing is in the best interest of the patient and their family. The decision to let someone die should be approved by at least three doctors relating to the field of that particular illness. This would surely decrease the risk of the probable misuse of euthanasia. If governed closely and strictly, euthanasia has a very minimal risk of being abused.

There is nothing wrong with legalizing euthanasia. Euthanasia is a tool that would save many people from a difficult death. With the legalization of euthanasia, people will be able to die a good death, rather than one with a lot of pain and suffering. Mercy killing will also save a lot of families from going into financial crisis. There are chances that it might be misused, but euthanasia should be accompanied with other strict laws stating the condition under which the mercy killing should be allowed. Euthanasia should be legalized.


Works Cited
Martin, Patrick. “More than 41 million American without health insurance.” 17 Oct.
2002. International Committee of the Fourth International. 05 Apr. 2005 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/oct2002/insu-o17.shtml
Ryan, Joan. “Right to die is necessary freedom fate of terminally all it is not up to
government.” San Francisco Chronicle 9 Jan. 2005: A17.