To deny someone the right to live is called murder. To deny someone the right to die is considered ethical in most cases, however, to a person who is terminally ill, abnegating the this right is not ethical. Take the case of Eluana Englaro, for example. She is a 37 year old Italian woman, who in 1992, at the age of 20 suffered a car accident and has been in a vegetative state ever since. Two years after the accident, doctors declared her condition irreversible. Her father recently won a court case in which he was allowed to have her feeding tubes stopped, so she would die. He stated that it was her wish. (NurseDi) What would a normal person do? Personally, I measure my life by self-assessed quality, not quantitatively. Making decisions for someone about someones life is what is trully un-ethical. 13-year-old Kirsty Jones, lived her whole life with a rare form of cancer. Treatment left her cancer free, however, her heart took a rough beating and could only pump 10% of her own blood. “I just decided that there was too many risks and even if I took it there might be a bad outcome afterwards”. (AEDT) If anyone can look a girl in the face and tell her that she does not have the right to die with a terminal illness that she has lived with her entire life is wrong. Some argue that life is a terminal illnes. I find this to be sad, this isnt an argument, but a pessimistic opinion. I truthfully would not chose to die with a terminal illness, I believe that this is God’s decision, however, I refuse to make the decision for someone else. I believe that there should be a process and guidlines that specify what a terminal illness is, if you pass this process, then you have the right to die with a terminal illness.
Consider this: should society condone suicide for reasons other than terminal illness? What about the blind, dumb paraplegic–perfectly healthy despite not being able to see, hear or move)? Does he have the right to die? Should we condone his choosing suicide? If so, where would we draw the line? Would it also be okay for the recently widowed elderly woman who no longer wants to live? For the recent victim of a rape who feels she can’t go on?