Argumentative dialogue ~On Euthanasia

"My mother is suffering from lung cancer. She is in enormous pain since her morphine pump isn’t working. She wants to end her life. This is a very difficult time."

"How awful. My heart goes out to you both."

"I am contemplating talking with her about euthanasia."

"Euthanasia? That’s illegal in most countries."

"In my country euthanasia is permitted under strict rules."

"I am against euthanasia."

"I am for euthanasia in specific cases. People have the right to die. It’s your life and your life alone. You are responsible for living; you should also have the choice to end it. For me, that’s a fundamental human right."

"There is no such thing as the right to die. It is not a fundamental liberty right."
Furthermore, taking your own life is either an offense or something you get admitted for in a mental institution if it turns out the wrong way."

"People should not suffer at the end of their life. That’s inhumane. My mother is desperate and her life lost all quality. There are no other options. There is the European Declaration of Human Rights -- the right not to be forced to suffer. It should be considered as much of a crime to make someone live who with justification does not wish to continue as it is to take life without consent."

"Laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide are in place to prevent abuse and to protect people from unscrupulous doctors and others, including a society whose main concern is the high costs of health care. It is not invented to make people suffer. And there is the slippery slope to legalized murder."

"That’s fear speaking. If you set up rules and regulations and provide two doctors who have to examine every particular case it is not legalized murder. There is no evidence of euthanasia turn out as murder in my country."

"Doctors should obey the Hippocratic Oath not to harm. Their first rule deals with the prohibition of killing."

"Does not doing harm mean that doctors should prolong a life that the patient sees as a painful burden? Surely, the 'harm' in this instance is done when doctors prolong life, and 'doing no harm' means that doctors should help the patient die."

"I think palliative care is option number one at all times."

"It is not either – nor but this should always be in discussion with the patient."

"What about social groups at risk of abuse? Those who will be most vulnerable to abuse, error, or indifference are the poor, minorities, and those who are least educated and least empowered."

"There is no evidence showing that in research."

"What about “Thou shall not kill”? Religious beliefs state that life is the most basic gift of a loving God - a gift over which we have stewardship but not absolute dominion."

"I am an atheist, although my mother is a Catholic. She believes in God! But some other beliefs advocate the right of terminally ill patients to select the time of their own deaths, to die with dignity, in accordance with one's own choice."

"I still think it’s morally wrong to even think about it."

"I have to think about it because I watch my mother in excruciating pain and she wants to end it. I should obey her wishes to at least talk about it with her. She is my mother!"

"I know and you want the best for her. But it must be very difficult to even discuss euthanasia of your mother."

"Yes, it is. Extremely painful. But I have no choice but to explore while we still can."

WC: 600

Dutch governmental rules euthanasia ▼

Request only from the patient; Physician not obliged to work on euthanasia; 6 requirements of diligence for physician (doctor is convinced request is free and deliberate; hopelessness and unbearable suffering; doctor has informed patient about situation and prospects; both are convinced there is no other way; one other doctor involved who has seen the patient and made record of this; euthanasia has been conducted in medically careful fashion); immediate call to coroner; rules in case of diminished consciousness; admittance to review board with at least one physician, one ethicus and one lawyer; punishment when violating the law on euthanasia (max. 12 years imprisonment for euthanasia; assisted suicide max. 3 years imprisonment).