Imagine your mother as an old woman: She has not been feeling well, so she goes into the doctor's office for some tests. She is found to have cancer of the liver. She is given an operation shortly thereafter, however it does not go well. The cancer has spread and the blood she was given in her operation was made matters worse- HIV positive. The doctors are sorry for their mistake but only give her six months to live. Over the next month, her condition gets worse and the common cold strikes her and she can't fight it. She goes in and out of the hospital, can't walk, has trouble eating, has lost all her hair from the radiation and her pain simply gets worse with every passing day. She is only thirty-six years old and tells you that she feels her time is up and now all she wants is to say her goodbyes and she wants help ending her life. What do you do? Is the answer euthanasia, or do you let her live out the rest of her short life in pain and misery? First of all, one should be able to understand the term euthanasia. Today's euthanasia generally refers to mercy killing, the voluntary ending of the life of someone who is terminally or hopelessly ill. Knowing that, it is seemingly appropriate to say that one has the right to die an easy death if and only if he is terminally ill. Otherwise, different situations should not play any part in this issue. It is apparent that euthanasia should be permitted everywhere for the following reasons: individual liberty, one's undesired pain, suffering, and misery, and the individual's frustration from having a valueless life. To understand more about the pro-euthanasia side of this issue, it is best conceived through the viewpoints, strong beliefs, and perspectives of proponents of euthanasia.
An individual has liberty, which includes the right of owning his life. He is the possessor of his life. Just as he can do whatever he wishes with his possessions- such as selling his new house- he can also wish to discontinue his life if the reasons were rational.
