Question

If you believe in the concept of patient autonomy regarding death then what about continued treatment that is medically futile? Who should make that decision and why? Would the looming presence of medicare for all and the issue of costs be a personal issue for the patient or a state issue? Please discuss?

Answer 1

Euthanasia or “mercy killing” means, terminating the life of a living being when they are suffering from severe pain and discomfort due to irreversible and untreatable illness.

Physician-assisted suicide by means of injecting a lethal drug is an example of active euthanasia. Passive euthanasia is the intentional avoidance of the treatment to allow death as soon as possible. For example, avoiding life support care is for a patient suffering from brain trauma.

Not all counties legally allow the “voluntary euthanasia,” although its demand and support for the same are increasing. However, legal regulation of the euthanasia is needed to justify the passive and active euthanasia. For example, the advance directives mentioned with “do not resuscitate” orders.

Still, voluntary euthanasia is only a topic of interest for discussion, but no major changes in the laws were included in majority of the states. The moral dilemma between killing someone and letting someone to die is still to be addressed.

The legislation of euthanasia with the following strict safeguards will be helpful. They are,

• Only the people with an irreversible terminal illness with no greater than six months of survival (one year if it is a motor neuron diseases) expectancy are eligible
• Medical assessment from multiple doctors is needed

Who should make the decision?

Although people at terminal illness are likely to have cognitive distortions and mental distress, their pain of suffering from an incurable illness is true. The same can be justified by a group of medical doctors. The competency of the patients to make decisions can be justified by considering the advance directives mentioned with “do not resuscitate” orders.

So, considering the interest of both the patient and doctor can proactively address the issue of voluntary euthanasia with strict safeguards.

Politicians are not the right target people that can take decisions regarding voluntary euthanasia because it is of a more ethical and moral issue. It is significant to involve the terminally ill patients, their family members, or the citizens, and the healthcare professionals in the decision-making process.