Jonathan+On+Kevorkian+and+Euthanasia

Active eutahasia is a practice that is done under the radar and is not talked about among doctors who do it. It is something that is looked down upon within the medical community and the general population. Even though it is looked down upon, it is still performed by doctors today.

One of those people is Pieter Admiraal, a doctor who is a Senior Anaesthetist in Denmark, practices voluntary euthanasia "openly and unashmedly" and believes that "To fail to practise voluntary euthanasia under some circumstances is to fail the patient." To fail the patient would be to fail the largest part of the Hippocratic oath, "First do no harm."

An example of failing the patient would be Ramon Sanpedro who had to live as a quadriplegic for 30 years had to go outside of the government to get help to kill himself because the doctors could not help him at all without losing their medical license. It is still illegal to practice active euthanasia in Spain today.

However, other countries openly practice active euthanasia and they are slowly changing how the world views the subject. Most of the countries are in the Netherlands but there is the Right To Die bill that allows passive euthanasia for terminally ill patients in very few states in America. It is these small steps that will eventually completely change the subject of active euthanasia.

Yet, there are those who think that suicide is a sin and, regardless of the circumstances, a person does not have a right to death until God takes them away from the world. One such person is Cardinal Franjo Seper who says that, "Everyone has the duty to lead his or her life in accordance with God's plan." He says that life should be protected at all stages and that pain is just a persons burden to bear. Overall, people just need to go along in life knowing that God has a plan for them and everything will be okay.

After seeing both sides of the subject I believe that a person is in control of their own body (for the most part) and therefore is in control of their life and death. There are some factors of the human body that a person can not control such as their own hormones and when they go off, but a person can choose when they want to die and they should have a right to that choice.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian is a strong advocate in the field of promoting active euthanasia. I think that doctors should be allowed to inject patients with euthanasia if the patient is clinically sane, has been given ample time to think of his/her choice after telling the doctor about it, and legal documentation has been signed by the patient that gives the doctor immunity from being put on trial. Doctors who perform active euthanasia “under the radar” and then “on the radar” say that active euthanasia is wrong are facing hard decisions that are made on a case by case basis. They do not stand up for what is right because they do not want to lose their medical license and, in turn, their career. This is understandable that they want to keep their jobs individually, but if they stood up collectively then they would have a greater chance of not losing their licenses. It is sad that, because of religous beliefs, people are suffering to the bitter end of their lives and can not have the choice to die peacefully and dignified by active euthanasia.

Dr. Kevorkian is not a “Neo-Nazi” as he is portrayed as because he does not want to kill off other people to make a master race. The Nazi’s put innocent people in camps, experimented on them, tortured them, and killed them. Dr. Kevorkian is ending the suffering of a human being that does not want to suffer anymore and he does it in a dignified manner.

Overall, even though there are people that oppose the idea of active euthanasia, I think it should be legalized nationally in America for the rights of doctors and patients. "Active euthanasia is but one more way of delivering humane medical care." -Pieter Admiraal.