Analyzing an Argument

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: It's Murder in the First Degree

Pieter / 16015178

1. Claim :
a. Active euthanasia is extremely wrong. It is murder and should not be allowed.

2. Reasons :
a. Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide are unethical.
b. Assisted suicide and active euthanasia is not natural

3. Backings :
a. Certain religions are against euthanasia. The Christian, Jew, and Islamic religions all cling
to the fact that life is sacred and should not be taken away.
b. In some cultures, helping someone to die is the same thing as homicide, and is treated so
in a court of law. (Encarta, 98)
c. Jonathan Gould and Lord Craigmyle, authors of Your Death Warrant?, put the suffering of
pain in perspective. They say, "Pain and suffering are inescapable at times in life, and
sometimes attend its end" but "Pain, it is to be remembered. . . Generally pain can be
considered natural and wholesome although unpleasant."
d. "Medical killing of sick persons would create far more distress, suffering and pain,
directly and indirectly, than it would relieve." (Gould and Craigmyle, 71)
e. The number one rule of medicine is that "doctors shall not kill". This regimen has been a
priority since the teachings of the well know physician, Hippocrates. (Shapiro and
Bowermaster, 94)
f. Joseph Shapiro of U.S. News and World Report found that "five out of six of the reasons
a patient says he wants to die are something the medical establishment can treat."
g. The authors of the website, Euthanasia.com found that "emotional and psychological
pressures could become overpowering for depressed or dependent people.
h. "This issue touches medicine at its very moral center; if this moral center collapses, if
physicians become killers, or are even merely licensed to kill, the profession and,
therewith, each physician will never again be worthy of trust and respect, healer and
comforter and protector of life in all its frailty. For if medicine's power over life may be
used equally to heal or to kill, the doctor is no more a moral professional but rather a
morally neutered technician." (Opposing Viewpoints, 89)
i. Physicians who can kill and can commit a homicidal crime, become loose in their morals
and accordingly lose their trust as a caretaker, a healer.
j. Committing this type of murder devalues human life. These doctors act as gods instead of
humans; judging whether life or death shall prevail. The doctor's job is to heal, to try as
hard as they can to save the lives of those who are presented before them.
k. Dr. Bry Benjamin. Benjamin once gave out a lethal dose of medicine to an older couple
suffering from cancer. For years, he had to "wrestle with this ethical dilemma" and ". .
.his conscience. . . alone." (Mattos and Sachs, 96).

4. Refutations :
a. They argue that a lethal injection is natural. One must argue with their ideals. Injecting a
foreign chemical into the body for the sole purpose of harming the body is not natural.
Euthanasia is, in fact, "intentionally making someone die, rather than allowing that person
to die naturally". (Online, 98)
b. Those who argue for the right to "die with dignity" are often the ones who are not
terminally ill or in the older generation. This fact was proven in a Harvard study that read,
"79 percent of those ages 18 to 34 believe a physician should be allowed to give lethal
 injections to the terminally ill, but only 53 percent of the older Americans agree."
(Shapiro and Bowermaster, 94) Therefore, What are those that are pro-euthanasia arguing
for? For their future, or for the death of those who no longer can serve their community?
c. In fact, not all psychiatric evaluations are complete or true, and not all patients are given
an evaluation. The fact is that family members are often supportive only if they choose
euthanasia or assisted suicide.

5. Summary :

a. Euthanasia is ending one's life if one has a terminal disease is an incurable condition,
and is done by a lethal injection. Euthanasia is unethical and unnatural, a lot of experts
prove that euthanasia is unethical, for examples: according to Encarta, helping someone
to die is the same thing as homicide, and is treated so in a court of law, according to
Hippocrates, the number one rule of medicine is that "doctors shall not kill", according to
Gould and Craigmyle, medical killing of sick persons would create far more distress,
suffering and pain, directly and indirectly, than it would relieve, etc. A lot of sick people
do not choose to die by Euthanasia, their family choose to. Financial considerations,
added to the concern about 'being a burden,' could serve as powerful forces that would
lead a person to 'choose' euthanasia or assisted suicide." Therefore, it is proven that
family members and doctors often have persuasive powers over the person in question.
Physicians who can kill and can commit a homicidal crime, become loose in their morals
and accordingly lose their trust as a caretaker, a healer. According to Jack Kevorkian, they
need to start with reorganizing their morals and placing their patient's health and healing
at the top of their list. Eventually the country will begin to realize that life is much more
important than the emphasis they have been placing on death.

I do not support euthanasia because as religious people, my religion is against it, beside
that according to declaration of human rights, it is clearly that euthanasia is considered as
murder and it cannot be tolerated. My opinion about people who want to die or family who let
his family member die by doing euthanasia is really disgrace, because they do not appreciate
life, a lot of people are under pressure so they think to do euthanasia, it is really unfair.