Euthanasia: Right or Wrong?

Guilty as charged, But?

Everyone's initial reaction is of course that killing another human being is wrong. But is there special circumstances that make us question this? We all would probably agree that in times of self defense and the protection of our family and loved ones the wrongness of killing a person can be looked over. But killing a loved one who is terminally ill, brings up many questions of what is right or wrong.

In my opinion when Roswell Gilbert killed his wife it wasn't just killing a person just to kill them, I would not call it murder. It was a known thing that Gilbert loved his wife. He was just tired of seeing her suffer through Alzheimer's, which Alzheimer's in itself is a very devistating disease to acquire. A victum of Alzheimer's suffers greatly from memory loss and much of the time forget people who were once very close to them. Also if they are not cared for be someone they can be found wondering the streets miles from home and not knowing how to get back. Most people with Alzheimer's end up in nursing homes because of the hardships it puts on their families and loved ones.

Gilbert was kind in wanting to end his wife's suffering and carrying out her wishes. But the only problem is that people who knew Gilbert knew that he loved his wife but how would a jury and judge know? There have been so many cases of husbands and wives killing each other that the situation is questionable. Unless it was in writing that his wife wanted to die there would be know reason for a court not to think that Gilbert could of had other reasons behind killing his wife. He could of done it out of meaness and hatred towards her who knows? In a situation like this only Gilbert truly knows the truth. I feel that his punishment wasn't far, because I think it was punishment enough for him to see his wife suffer and to kill her to end it. That is something that is always going to stay with him and im sure he thinks about it everyday whether it was the right thing to do or not. Life in prison was a harsh sentence, because the fact he didn't kill his wife out of hate or just for the hell of it. He did it to end the suffering of someone he loved.

However, in extreme cases I don't believe Euthanasia to be wrong. For example, in the Shavo case where her husband made the decision to pull the plug. There was so much controvercy over this matter and many people though that it was wrong. People only look at it as taking someone's life, without considering all of the details. Shavo was in a vegetable state for years, she was only alive by machines. She couln't feed herself, move of speak. The right thing to do was pull the plug, because technically she wasn't alive. Her family just didn't want to deal with the fact she was a vegetable and would never recover they kept her alive by machine for years. Everyone was furious when the husband decided to pull the plug I feel he made the right decision. It didn't mean he didn't love her as people tried to claim i think he was put in a similar situation as Gilbert.

As I said in extreme situations I believe that Euthanasia should actually be considered, but only with the person's consent. I think that when a person is notified of a terminal illness that can't be cured they should have a choice to end their life. Euthanasia(and or doctor assisted suicide) is actually legal in a couple of places: Organ and Canada if I remember correctly. In terms of suffering a person shouldn't have to lives out years of it. And I throughly believe that people shouldn't only be kept alive with machines. If anything ever happens to me whether it be terminal illness or im in a vegetable state I wouln't want to live that way because in reality its not really living. Most people want a fulfilled life. I also wouldn't want to be a burden on my family and have them suffer seeing me that way or have to suffer through me not remembering them if I got Alzheimers. The idea of Euthanasia I feel will become more accepting in the future.