In this world “nothing is certain except death and taxes” Benjermin Franklin once said. Luckily with taxes we know exactly when its coming for us (The US Government will always find us on April15th), but unfortunately (or fortunately) for death, it is never set in stone. For some people who have specific medical conditions, the threat of passing away is more inevitable than for others. People diagnosed with terminal diseases such as prion diseases, Huntington's, terminal cancer, or severe Alzheimer's are given an hourglass of time that only escalates as symptoms of their disease intensify.
Now the question is how much autonomy do these patients that suffer from these terminal diseases have? What choices and options do they have? Euthanasia is the option to let oneself expire whether it be directly or indirectly the person’s choice, but the ability of letting oneself pass. In the United States euthanasia is illegal, except for a few states, but people are given the option of do not resuscitate (DNR) which allows for someone to passively pass without any intervention (Srivastava, V., 2014). The bioethical question here is, is that enough? Should the person experiencing the disease decide when it is enough, or should they wait until the disease has had enough? Euthanasia could be an important step for someone to claim their own autonomy against an illness and push to relieve their and their family’s stress. By allowing the possibility of more physician assisted euthanasia, patients can leave when they believe it is time and gives them the ability to be remembered how they want to, rather than letting them be remembered as their disease.
References:
Picón-Jaimes, Y. A., Lozada-Martinez, I. D., Orozco-Chinome, J. E., Montaña-Gómez, L. M., Bolaño- Romero, M. P., Moscote-Salazar, L. R., Janjua, T., & Rahman, S. (2022).
Euthanasia and assisted suicide: An in-depth review of relevant historical
aspects. Annals of medicine and surgery (2012), 75, 103380.
Srivastava V. (2014). Euthanasia: a regional perspective. Annals of neurosciences, 21(3),
81–82. https://doi.org/10.5214/ans.0972.7531.210302
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