The State of California has allowed medical doctors to assist terminally ill patients in killing themselves. Disputes about the moral and ethical side of this issue have been going on for many years (Emanuel 339). A lot of opposing opinions are expressed in terms of the law, human rights, medicine, and religion. Many moral and ethical questions arise that medical doctors must confront due to this issue.
Euthanasia can be morally and ethically dangerous because this practice can be too easily abused. The legalization of physician-assisted suicide can change the society itself, its foundations, values, and the attitude of citizens towards life and death (Emanuel et al. 82). Thus, over time, dramatic changes can occur in society, and this law can endanger old, weak, and sick people. Life remains good even when it becomes primarily suffering. Therefore, on the one hand, doctors should save people, not help people kill themselves (Fontalis et al. 407). However, many factors can drive terminally ill patients to physician-assisted suicide.
Doctors must save people’s lives, but they should not interfere with the choice of a terminally ill person. If the medicine is not able to help or create any decent existence, then doctors should not prevent one from dying with dignity (Legoute 95). Due to the California law, medical doctors have to decide whether it contradicts the essence of the medical profession and who should be given this right to make a decision (Mazloom et al. 2). The answer to these questions has not been found yet, but the responsibility lies with both parties: who has made such a decision, and who has carried it out.
The legalization of physician-assisted suicide puts many people in a difficult position of choice. Attention to the problem of euthanasia has increased with the development of social progress, and in particular, the technology supporting the vital functions of seriously ill people. Numerous disputes on this issue are constantly flaring up among doctors, lawyers, psychologists, politicians, and religious leaders. However, a clear answer to the question of the justification of the practice of euthanasia has never been given.
References
Emanuel, Ezekiel. “Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Focus on the Data.” Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 206, no. 8, 2017, pp. 339-340.
Emanuel, Ezekiel J., et al. “Attitudes and Practices of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide in the United States, Canada, and Europe.” Jama, vol. 316, no. 1, 2016, pp. 79-90.
Fontalis, Andreas, Efthymia Prousali, and Kunal Kulkarni. “Euthanasia and Assisted Dying: What is the Current Position and What Are the Key Arguments Informing the Debate?.” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, vol. 111, no. 11, 2018, pp. 407-413.
Legoute, Sergo. “Euthanasia and the Right to Die.” FAU Undergraduate Law Journal, vol. 3, 2016, pp. 91-97.
Mazloom, Samira, Alireza Hamidian Jahromi, and Bahar Bastani. “Legalization Of Euthanasia And Physician-Assisted Dying: Condemnation Of Physician Participation.” Online Journal of Health Ethics, vol., 13, no. 1, 2017, pp. 1-4.