• published: 18 Aug 2015
• views: 18777

Should people have the right to decide when and how they die? Is it fair that the law says we must suffer through debilitating and painful illness only to prolong death? These are Five Arguments for Euthanasia. Disagree with our list? Then please let us know in the comments section below. You can also subscribe here - http://tinyurl.com/prn4lec Join us on Twitter here - http://goo.gl/7z8hBX And Facebook here - http://tinyurl.com/orv4j3z And you can check out these other awesome videos by Take Five Nation… Five Things the Nazis Got Right https://goo.gl/VkUJFt Five Animals the have Recently Become Extinct https://goo.gl/vBp2uA Five Overshadowed Celebrity Deaths https://goo.gl/MyLbJt Five Natural Disasters Predicted for the Future https://goo.gl/PsPvJB The Five Most Notorious Female Prisoners of all Time https://goo.gl/6kOvLH The Five Most Venomous Snakes in the World https://goo.gl/Uai6dP Five Amazing Mythical Creatures https://goo.gl/TcdxUc Five Arguments For Cannabis Legalization https://goo.gl/Hdj8JY The Five Ugliest Animals on the Planet https://goo.gl/4xUvG7 The Five Best Computer Games Ever https://goo.gl/bWDMM4 The Five Smartest People in the World https://goo.gl/O2VBEo The Five Most Expensive Paintings in the World https://goo.gl/NVXYrQ Anyway… back to the arguments… Quality of Life Most of us fear death, but a large part of that fear comes from uncertainty and the worry that it might be preceded by agonizing pain - like a car wreck, say. If we knew exactly when we were going to die—and knew for a fact it would be painless—it’s a fair bet that fear would simply melt away. By allowing people to choose the how and when of their death, we’re guaranteeing they’ll live what remaining life they have to the fullest, free from the pain of anxiety. The Hippocratic Oath The famous maxim “do no harm” is a summation of the Hippocratic Oath. But what does this mean? It could mean “don’t artificially keep someone alive when death is preferable.”When a patient is in intense pain or suffering severe mental anguish, our society could be doing more harm by keeping them alive than allowing them to die. It could be argued that any physician who didn’t alleviate their suffering when asked was violating the principles of their oath—and allowing both great harm and a great injustice to occur on their watch. Vulnerable People One of the big myths about legalizing assisted dying is that it will lead to pressure on the old, disabled, and infirm to end their lives. It’s a fear we shouldn’t take lightly, although it also has absolutely no basis. Take Oregon. In 1994, it became the first state in America to legalize assisted dying, with the law going into effect in 1998. Ten years later, the number of doctor-assisted suicides stood at 341 per decade. In 2007, the Journal of Medical Ethics analyzed the cases of every single patient and found poor, elderly, minority, or otherwise “vulnerable” groups were represented as infrequently as everyone else. Floodgates A final myth is that legalizing assisted dying will open the floodgates, leading to a murder-happy world where life is cheap and death is easy. But analysis of the data shows that this isn’t the case. In the Netherlands – where euthanasia is legal - every year, roughly 3,000 Dutch people seek to be euthanized. That sounds like a lot, until you realize it accounts for only 1.7 percent of all deaths. Around two-thirds of patients who apply to be euthanized are refused; while euthanasia itself remains a criminal act unless carried out by a qualified doctor with the consent of a legal and an ethics expert. Alternatives When we think about death, most of us imagine passing serenely away surrounded by our loved ones—maybe after having a slap-up meal and the best sex of our lives. But death isn’t like that. Death is usually slow, painful, and undignified. And by refusing people the “right” to end their own lives, we’re increasing that pain and indignity to a horrifying extent. So, for many people, the choice they now face is unimaginable agony for years on end, or even-worse unimaginable agony for the time it takes to starve.