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Euthanasia

For some time now, a constant debate of whether or not euthanasia should be permitted is omnipresent in many societies. “Euthanasia is the practice of ending the life of a human or animal who is incurably ill in a painless or minimally painful way, for the purpose of limiting suffering.”   Throughout the years many researchers have developed theories on whether the act of euthanasia should be permissible in our societies. However, when we take a brief moment to think about euthanasia, many question cross our minds and allow us to determine whether this act is right or wrong. Is it morally right to terminate a patient’s life when the patient is considered terminal? Or, is it more ethical to let the patient die a natural death without anyone interfering? These questions are ones that have been thrown back and forth between people who are pro-euthanasia and others that are anti-euthanasia for some time and will probably continue for some time longer since the debate of whether euthanasia should be legalized is very difficult for people to agree upon. It is one of society's most widely and hotly debated moral issues.

  Nowadays many reasons may justify the practice of euthanasia. In many cases, patients who are very ill and find themselves in very bad situations may decide to resort to euthanasia. If a terminally ill patient feels their life is not worth living anymore because of how much they have degraded or lost, for example capability and dignity, considering the patient has not lost their mind, doesn’t want to remain alive, then the patient should have the right to decide in what way he or she desires to die (2). Some patients feel that euthanasia could be a more peaceful death and less painful death than a natural death. According to Wilkinson: “it is not a right to die but a right to expect to be given all necessary and available support during the process of dying, a right to the relief of suffering and the alleviation of distress so that the person who is...