Ethical Issues of "Death with Dignity"
Euthanasia or "assisted suicide" is the voluntary ending of one's own life by choice. It is one of the most controversial issues in the bioethical field of medicine. On one hand, it seems unethical to lawfully force the patient to suffer through the illness, while on the other hand it hinders the growth of medical treatments and undermines its capabilities.
Assisted suicide has been legal in several European countries for around forty years. And it's practice displays a major drawback. There have been several cases where the patient was provided with euthanasia without consent. About 1-2% of all assisted suicides have been involuntary. These terrifying statistics pose to be very dangerous to this practice.
Although the autonomy and freedom of such a voluntary choice should be respected, it is form of abandonment, especially when there's hope. The patients who are eligible for euthanasia have to fit to certain parameters including the condition of having no unseeable cure for that patient, and being in intolerable suffering. As reasonable as they sound, it has been found that most of terminally ill patients discard the choice of euthanasia when provided with appropriate treatment for depression. These possibilities cannot be ethically disregarded.
The extremity of such a choice not only threatens helpless patients but also undermines the value of the human life. European laws open doors to legalized mercy killing by offering this choice to even disabled people. This promoted the concept of "suicide tourism".
Some services in Switzerland openly allow assisted suicide even for the disabled, the mentally ill, and the old, who are simply done with life. These loose parameters are simply based on the European paradigm that since autonomy or freedom of choice is the principle for euthanasia, it cannot be limited to terminal illness.
This sort of an idea have led some medical professionals to take emotional decisions rather than ethical ones. A Dutch psychiatrist, who assisted a woman with euthanasia, was not held guilty by the Supreme Court for helping her end her suffering of grief over her dead children. Some spouses have also seeked joint assisted suicide for avoiding the suffering of living without each other. It clearly proves the extremity of freedom European laws offer, which open up a lot of questions.
Such a controversial issue has a myriad of parameters, possible outcomes and ethical considerations to be taken. Maybe it crosses he limits of autonomy yet can be the right choice rather than forcing the individual to suffer. It will always remain debatable but whatever the reason, in every case, the possibilities of saving the patient and its outcomes must be wisely weighed and considered.
