Those taste and finally her eyesight. Shortly
Thosein the late stages of a terminal illness, and their loved ones, can suffertremendously (and unnecessarily):ChantalSebire, (52-years-old) former schoolteacher and mother of three, was refusedthe right to die by a French court. Sebire suffered from a disfiguring andincurable facial tumour which caused her to lose the sense of smell, taste and finally her eyesight. Shortly after the court’s decision, she decided totake her own life. Before she passed away she explained that if she sawchildren in the street, they would run away from her petrified.
‘Onewould not allow an animal to go through what I have endured’, she said. How can we make someone like this suffer? Isthis really acceptable? And why should we make a person and their family andfriends suffer when there is a much easier alternative? It is alsoimportant to realise that those that want the patient to life, despite thembeing terminally ill and in extreme pain are usually not the patientsthemselves and therefore don’t know what the person is experiencing. Thecurrent rules in Australiarequire a person with great physical and/or mental suffering to continue toendure their suffering against their wishes, which certainly cannot be right.Ultimately not only does the person suffer, everyone around them suffers.Currentlaws can make people that assistothers with euthanasia go to jail:Latelast year, a court in Ireland rejected a person called, Marie Fleming’sbid to commit suicide, despite multiple sclerosis (sclerosis is a disease in which the immune system eats away at theprotective covering of nerves) this reduced herlife to “irreversible agony.” At the centre of this was her husband Tom, whowas told he could face up to 14 years in prison if he assisted her in committingsuicide. In other words, Ireland’s highest court forced a woman to live inunimaginable physical agony while her husband had to watch the person he lovessuffer daily. His only alternative was to help her relieve her pain however hewould go to prison.
Any sane person would realise that this is unconventionallycruel and inhumane, yet decisions like this happen all over the world includingin Australia.Furthermore,take the case of paralysed UK resident Paul Lamb. Last month, a judgeruled that any nurse or doctor who helps him take his own life will beprosecuted, despite him describing his life as a “living hell.
” Or thecase of Diane Pretty who was told her husband would be prosecuted if hetried to help her avoid the horrible death she eventually had. Simply said,laws against assisted death cause suffering on an unimaginable scale, not justfor the terminally ill but for their families as well. Finally, Euthanasiais properly regulated:Developed countries like theNetherlands have legalized euthanasia and have had solely minor problems fromthis decision. Any law or system can be misused or abused, however that law andsystem will invariably be refined to prevent such things from happening. In asimilar manner, it is possible to properly and effectively regulate euthanasia,as several first world countries have done.
More so because the process ofeuthanasia itself as it is being argued here, needs competent consent from thepatient. It is vital to think about the protection of both the physicians aswell as the patients. The crucial component within the regulation of euthanasiawill be deciding what is considered to be euthanasia and what exactly isconsidered to be murder. Adding on to that it is properly regulated, in theNetherlands roughly two-thirds of patients who apply to be euthanized are refused. In conclusion Euthanasia should clearlybe legalised in Australia, the victim and his or her loved ones can suffer tremendously,current laws can make people that assist others with euthanasia go to jail and finallyeuthanasia is properly regulated.
