Euthanasia has become one of the most essential public policy issues being debated among people around the world for decades. The issue has affected family relationships, interaction between doctors and patients, and concepts of basic morality.
According to the concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, euthanasia is defined as "either painlessly putting to death or failing to postpone death from natural causes, as in cases of terminal illness". Euthanasia is also called mercy killing, it means intentionally making someone die, rather than allowing that person to die naturally. Speaking in an honest and direct way, euthanasia means killing in the name of compassion.
In late 1998, an article posted on the New York Daily News dealt with Dr. Jack Kevorkian injecting lethal drugs into Thomas Youk's body who was willing to die at the age of fifty two. He was suffering from a terminal disease called Lou Gehrig's disease. Many people saw him die on television and they were polarized on the issue of why he chose to die and why his wife agreed with the doctor's decision. The central issue for many people is whether euthanasia is legal or not. Many people were against it and they were extremely angry about human killing human at the time. However, I believe that mercy killing should be legal because it supports patient rights, it saves time and money, and it benefits other patients.
Patient's right is one of the most compelling reasons for the legalization of mercy killing. Once they are determined to end their life, we need to think about why they are trying to end up with death even though modern medical technology is developing. In fact, there is a solid reasoning to support their choices: "There are times when it is rational to prefer dying to living in a manner considered intolerable" (Prado and Taylor, 31). We have to admit that someone may choose to give up life because people have the right to choose.
