No Church In The Wild

There are some scary facts here; around 300 people out of 1,000 will experience mental health problems every year in Britain. That over 42,000 in the UK are affected by lung cancer, over 8,000 by pancreatic cancer and over 9,000 people in the UK are suffering from brain tumours. If you factor in all the different causes of spinal cord injuries, figures show that over one million people are now paralysed for life this year alone. So why is euthanasia still illegal in the UK?

The British House of Lords Committee defines euthanasia as "a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering" but isn't that the point? In the Netherlands, however, euthanasia is seen as "a termination of life by a doctor at the request of a patient". But it's interesting that if we had a pet that was in pain the first thing we would do is take it to the vets and if the vet turned round to you and said: 'your dog/cat/pet is not going to have a very good quality of life if it continues to live' most of us that care for our pets and hate to see them in pain would have them put down. I've already experienced this with one of our very first family dog's, he had severe epilepsy and just wasn't able to live his life like a happy dog, so we made the heartbreaking decision to have him put down. 

Of course everyone is entitled to their own choice for how they want to die, but people should at least be offered the option of euthanasia. I pray to God that I never get to the stage where I don't have control of my body anymore, but if I do, I want either a family member, husband, child or whoever to make the decision for me. I don't think that many people want to die in pain and suffering. However, when a patient is diagnosed with cancer that the doctor does not think they will recover from, their morphine intake is slowly increased until the day comes that their body cannot survive with that much morphine in it's system, and in cases like that, the patient will eventually die. But even if some see that as a more desirable choice than "assisted suicide" the people are still suffering and not fully able to enjoy the remaining days of their life.

Of course the practical arguments against euthanasia would be that it undermines the commitment of doctors and nurses to saving lives, it also will eventually discourage the search for new cures and treatments for the terminally ill. Many people argue that there is no way of regulating the use of euthanasia, I'm not saying that it should just be given to every terminally ill person, what I'm saying is that it should at least be offered as a last resort option if that is what a patient wants.

The religious arguments towards euthanasia are much harder to get a grip on unless you are a believer, they say that life is precious because God created us, therefore human life should be protected and preserved whatever happens, because we should not interfere with God's plans. But what's a God to a non-believer? 

There is no wrong or right answer to this post, but in my own personal opinion, I think that euthanasia should be offered as a more dignified alternative to dying. But please, tell me what you think in the comment section below.