Should Euthanasia Be Legal in the U.S.?
Euthanasia has been a major issue in the U.S. since the creation of the Hippocratic Oath
by Hippocrates around 230 B.C. (“Anti-Euthanasia Arguments” 1). One of the lines in the oath is
“that I will not give my patients any harmful thing even if they request it.” Many politicians do
not like to talk about euthanasia during debates because it brings up many other issues. The story
of Terri Schiavo is a very powerful story about euthanasia. Euthanasia the painless killing of a
patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. The practice is
illegal in most countries. It is also known as assisted suicide. Terri Schiavo had a heart attack in
her home that left her in a persistent vegetative state. Her husband was her legal guardian and
said that Terri would not want to live in a vegetative state. He and her parents argued in court for
about 7 years before finally deciding whether or not to remove the feeding tube. Euthanasia
should be illegal in the U.S.
Euthanasia is bad due to the sanctity of human life. All human beings are to be valued,
irrespective of age, sex, race, religion, social status or their potential for achievement. Human
life is a basic good as opposed to an instrumental good, a good in itself rather than as a means to
an end. Human life is sacred because it’s a gift from God. Therefore, the deliberate taking of
human life should be prohibited except in self-defense or the legitimate defense of others (“Anti-
Euthanasia Arguments” 1).
Humans are valuable for themselves. The philosopher Immanuel Kant said that
“Rationale human beings should be treated as an end in themselves and not as a means to
something else.” Humanity has value in itself. One’s inherent value doesn’t depend on anything
else – it doesn’t depend on whether one is having a good life that one enjoys, or whether one is
making other people’s lives better. Humans exist so they have value. Most people agree. What
one might say, shouldn’t make someone else think that people should use other people – which is
a plain English way of saying that one shouldn’t treat another person as a means to their own
ends (“Anti-Euthanasia Arguments” 1).
Germain Grisez and Joseph M. Boyle, Jr., authors of Life and Death with Liberty and
Justice (University of Notre Dame Press, 1979, pp. 149-170), offered the following objections to
legalizing voluntary active euthanasia. Patients will have to be told the full extent of the pain,
suffering and hopelessness of their medical condition all at once rather than in gradual, tolerable
stages, in order to safeguard the legal requirements of informed consent needed for truly
voluntary euthanasia. Patients not wanting euthanasia would inevitably hear about their dreadful
prognosis from other patients with similar medical conditions, relatives and so on, and have to
bear the burden of such unwanted information. It will cause conflict for people who are morally
