Go Gently Into That Good Night
Growing up my family had a dog. It was neither cutest dog, nor the best behaved, but nonetheless, we loved her. We called her Suzie and she was with us for over ten years. When Suzie got too old we put her to sleep. Hers was a death with dignity. Her loved ones were all able to say goodbye and watch her fall into a peaceful death that looked like a nap.
Growing up my family had a grandmother. She was the best sort of Grandmother: the sort who spent a lot time totally focused on her grandchildren. The sort of Grandmother who baked cookies, scratched feet and took us to Disneyland. We called her Gangy and she was part of my life for twenty years. Before she got too old, she got sick. Gangy got very sick and died a terrible, painful, death. Hers was a death completely lacking in dignity. Her loved ones were all able to see clearly her pain, her suffering and her slowing falling into a fitful half death before at long last succumbing to the peaceful death that we attain in the end.
Is euthanasia an acceptable alternative to the sort of death my grandmother suffered? I believe it is--under strictly controlled conditions. I believe that a person dying of a terminal disease or an individual in chronic pain has the right to decide when and how their demise should occur.
Some would argue that allowing euthanasia is a slippery slope to the day that the lives of the sick, the old and the disabled will be seen only through the lens of cost efficiency and convenience. Doctors will decide to euthanize based upon their own biases rather than on the wishes of the patient. A shrinking healthcare budget and an aging population will mean that physicians are forced to decide which patients are worth treating and which are not. Citing Robert Latimer, advocates for the rights of the disabled claim that disabled people everywhere will be rampantly murdered at their parents mere convenience.
These very arguments against euthanasia speak loudest in its favor. If the reasons for not providing something at all are that it will run rampant once we allow a crack in the door, then the answer is not simply to close that door forever, but rather to open it in a controlled environment that allows informed, intelligent and humane euthanasia to be provided to terminally ill patients who request it. Checks and balances can be imposed, such as the permission of two doctors, the patient and a relative, required absolutely every time. With an appropriate structure of procedures and policies in place, we can live an enlightened life at the same time as practicing responsibility and respect for human life.
Rather than an argument in favor of keeping euthanasia illegal, I believe these arguments to speak loudly of the need for strict regulation and procedure of euthanasia to ensure that patients who want a death with dignity are given that right, while those who do not want such a death are safe from being involuntarily euthanized. Euthanasia must never be allowed in a case where the patient is against being euthanized. For Tracy Latimer we will never know how she felt about the matter, but because she could not tell us we must assume that the desire to live was still strong.
However, in the case of the terminally ill patient who has only
pain and decline left before him or her, there should be a choice. A choice between a potentially painful natural death and a "gentle death" that is medically induced. We have no qualms about prolonging the suffering of a dying individual through medical means such as ventilators or feeding tubes, but medical intervention to help an individual "go gently into that good night" is not tolerated.
Ask yourself. How would you want to die?
Growing up my family had a grandmother. She was the best sort of Grandmother: the sort who spent a lot time totally focused on her grandchildren. The sort of Grandmother who baked cookies, scratched feet and took us to Disneyland. We called her Gangy and she was part of my life for twenty years. Before she got too old, she got sick. Gangy got very sick and died a terrible, painful, death. Hers was a death completely lacking in dignity. Her loved ones were all able to see clearly her pain, her suffering and her slowing falling into a fitful half death before at long last succumbing to the peaceful death that we attain in the end.
Is euthanasia an acceptable alternative to the sort of death my grandmother suffered? I believe it is--under strictly controlled conditions. I believe that a person dying of a terminal disease or an individual in chronic pain has the right to decide when and how their demise should occur.
Some would argue that allowing euthanasia is a slippery slope to the day that the lives of the sick, the old and the disabled will be seen only through the lens of cost efficiency and convenience. Doctors will decide to euthanize based upon their own biases rather than on the wishes of the patient. A shrinking healthcare budget and an aging population will mean that physicians are forced to decide which patients are worth treating and which are not. Citing Robert Latimer, advocates for the rights of the disabled claim that disabled people everywhere will be rampantly murdered at their parents mere convenience.
These very arguments against euthanasia speak loudest in its favor. If the reasons for not providing something at all are that it will run rampant once we allow a crack in the door, then the answer is not simply to close that door forever, but rather to open it in a controlled environment that allows informed, intelligent and humane euthanasia to be provided to terminally ill patients who request it. Checks and balances can be imposed, such as the permission of two doctors, the patient and a relative, required absolutely every time. With an appropriate structure of procedures and policies in place, we can live an enlightened life at the same time as practicing responsibility and respect for human life.
Rather than an argument in favor of keeping euthanasia illegal, I believe these arguments to speak loudly of the need for strict regulation and procedure of euthanasia to ensure that patients who want a death with dignity are given that right, while those who do not want such a death are safe from being involuntarily euthanized. Euthanasia must never be allowed in a case where the patient is against being euthanized. For Tracy Latimer we will never know how she felt about the matter, but because she could not tell us we must assume that the desire to live was still strong.
However, in the case of the terminally ill patient who has only
pain and decline left before him or her, there should be a choice. A choice between a potentially painful natural death and a "gentle death" that is medically induced. We have no qualms about prolonging the suffering of a dying individual through medical means such as ventilators or feeding tubes, but medical intervention to help an individual "go gently into that good night" is not tolerated.
Ask yourself. How would you want to die?
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