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The right to life is guaranteed and protected by law and it applies to everyone.
Every person has the right to life and it is against the law for someone to violate
Going back to Ancient Greece, the word “euthanasia” comes from “eu” (which
a painless death. Even so, society blames it and refuses to accept the fact that in
The case of Diane Pretty raised awareness of the issue of euthanasia in today’s
society. Diane Pretty, as many other people, was suffering from a terminal illness
and had no hope of recovery. She repeatedly asked the judges to grant her
husband permission to help her in the process of dying and they refused to do
so. She relied on the European Convention of Human Rights, claiming that hers
were infringed. Article 3 of the Human Rights Act prohibits the use of torture and
a long, exhausting trial would surely exacerbate their existing condition and
article of the Human Rights Act. She also based her case on Article 8, which
states that everyone is entitled to respect towards their private and family life,
their homes and correspondence. Her case was rejected on the grounds that the
Allowing the terminally ill to die in their preferred way only helps them keep their
human dignity and feel more comfortable with the idea of dying and it would
prevent discrimination against those who do not have the means to travel
In the UK, the struggle to change the current law regarding assisted suicide has
been getting more intense over the past few years and it peaked with Debbie
Purdy’s case. The woman who has been suffering from MS has significantly
the European Convention of Human Rights, claiming that the right to life should
also enable her to choose her death. As a response to her claim, the court held
that the right to life is not capable of including the right to self-determination and
The main reasons for which euthanasia and assisted dying are being disregarded
are ethical ones. Most people disagree with it for religious reasons. All Christian
churches are against it and they influence people’s opinions. The sanctity of life
seems to be a good reason to oppose it, but very few people actually think of the
fact that God is not in favour of human degradation and suffering. Furthermore,
when Jesus was crucified, it is assumed that along with the vinegar the Roman
soldiers put on his wound, they also used an Opium compound (soluble only in
liquids like vinegar) to relieve some of his pain. In addition to that, illnesses do
not discriminate against religions and people get sick regardless of their religion.
When in great pain, a Christian should not be treated differently than a Muslim,
Indian, Buddhist or any other person because pain doesn’t take that into
consideration. Other people are against it because they believe medicine makes
progress every day and if assisted dying was legalised, people would abuse it.
The right to life is protected so much by churches, by the law and by people that
Generally, people who suffer from terminal illnesses can decide to take their own
lives and that is not against the law, whereas if they do succeed, no one can hold
them responsible for their action. Still, some people suffer from illnesses that do
not allow them to move and without movement, they cannot commit suicide.
However, because their pain is unbearable, they seek help from their loved ones
and as soon as they realize their family members might be prosecuted for
helping them, they start worrying and thinking that they have become a burden
and the quality of their lives continuously decreases until they have no dignity
left.
For those people, organisations like “Dignity in Dying” have been founded. The
become more open to the idea of assisted suicide. They claim that enforced
suffering is immoral and it should not be allowed. Their fight for changing the law
is also supported by the fact that legalising assisted suicide would create less
concern amongst the terminally ill patients and they would be able to live longer.
Mrs Purdy highlighted the idea that if her husband would be prosecuted if he
helped her, she would travel abroad while she can still travel on her own and
that would mean ending her life sooner than it is necessary. Furthermore,
changing the law and allowing assisted dying with the help of a doctor would
understand that their judgments of what the value of life of another is are not
the same with the judgments of the person in question and we cannot decide
beliefs, 70% are in favour of changing the law whereas they consider that even
religion and medicine. Elizabeth Wicks tried to analyse this connection between
the three domains in her article “Law, religion and medicine: legislating on birth
and death in a Christian state” in November 2009. In her article, Mrs Wicks not
only states the arguments in favour of changing the law, but she also presents
the arguments in favour of keeping the current law. One of the arguments she
states is the sanctity of life, closely followed by the prevention of abuse coming
from medical staff and family members. She also suggests the fact that if the law
was more relaxed with regard to this delicate issue, more terminally ill patients
would develop a duty to die if they feel they have become a burden to those
around them. Mrs Wicks also presents the argument according to which assisted
medical point of view, progress is made every day and to support this argument,
vulnerable. In order to do so, safeguards like living wills, special tribunals and
following the model provided by other countries where this is legal should be
introduced. In the end, it is the freedom of choice that makes us feel alive and
Alexandra Pop