Euthanasia; a controversy that will always be controversial

Hi Hive Lovers

Euthanasia aims to eliminate someone's suffering, and it is done on patients or sick people who can no longer be treated. "Lethal injection for an easy death." Still very controversial!

There are always two opinions when discussing this scary issue. For or against it.

Well, before I express my position about supporting or opposing euthanasia in this article, I want to review a few things.

Countries that have legalized euthanasia

The following are several countries that are reported to have passed laws governing the permissibility of euthanasia in their countries, including:

Colombia

CNN Indonesiareported that Colombia was the first country in Latin America to legalize euthanasia in 1997 and became a country that provides easy death for patients suffering from intense physical or psychological suffering for diseases that are completely incurable.

Netherlands

In a journal published by Frontiers, it was stated that the Dutch parliament considered euthanasia to be a very important medical practice, and they began to legalize euthanasia on April 10, 2001. With a note that the patient who undergoes it must be an adult and mentally competent.

Belgium

In the same journal, it is also stated that Belgium has the same opinion as the Netherlands and also requires people who are mature and mentally competent for patients who will undergo it. But they started to legalize it a year after the Netherlands, in 2002.

Washington DC, Canada, Oregon, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and several states in Australia are also among the countries that have legalized assistance for easy and intentional death.

In all countries that have legalized euthanasia, there is always a fierce debate in parliament when they discuss it. There is also always a fierce and controversial debate there.

Even though these countries legalize euthanasia, they still provide strict terms and procedures when a patient wants to die.

Reasons for someone applying for euthanasia

Countries that legalize euthanasia argue that everyone has the freedom to do whatever they want with their body because a person's body is the right of the owner. So, the state must give its citizens the opportunity to die easily and painlessly by going through the euthanasia procedure.

Other people are not allowed to interfere in trying to save someone's life if a patient no longer wants it, even family or a doctor. If other people interfere, it is a violation of one's personal freedom and human rights.

In many reports, cancer is the main reason someone wants euthanasia; besides that, some of the following diseases are also the reason someone proposes a quick and easy death to end their life, namely heart, nerve, lung disease, AIDS, or a combination of several of these diseases.

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If we pay attention, requests for euthanasia procedures can be carried out by the patient himself (voluntary euthanasia) and the patient's own family (involuntary euthanasia).

In voluntary euthanasia, a patient must request their own euthanasia on the grounds of unrelenting and unbearable suffering. Doctors who obtain permission to carry out euthanasia procedures must ensure that the patient's euthanasia request is a voluntary request of the patient, not the result of coercion or influence by others.

In non-voluntary euthanasia, it is the patient's family that agrees to undergo the euthanasia procedure, with the patient's condition being unconscious or declared permanently paralyzed. But it is very clear that it becomes difficult to know the motivation of the patient's family behind the attempt to undergo euthanasia; the reason of "not wanting to be burdened by illness or inheritance" is very likely to occur.

In the case of non-voluntary euthanasia, there has been much debate between those who support it and those who oppose it. Even so, in fact, voluntary euthanasia is still often debated.

Where do I stand?

Even though my country (Indonesia) prohibits euthanasia, considers it an illegal procedure, and has a code of ethics for doctors not to get involved, I am still in the line of opposition for one main reason according to my beliefs, namely:

The affairs of one's life and death are the domain of the authority of God, the Creator.

One can never ask to be born, and vice versa, one also cannot ask to be killed. So, if someone suffers from a disease that cannot be cured, that is God's destiny, and we as humans are only asked to try our best to get treatment.

God is a substance that is omnipresent, including being able to turn someone on and also turn someone off. God is able to bring life, and his power is not limited to predestining someone's healing. Resignation after treatment is the best attitude when someone is sick.

Suicide in any form is an act that cannot be justified by any law, even if it is due to an incurable illness. Doctors are human beings who also have limitations for medical treatment, and no one has the right or authority to kill someone other than God.

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