Euthanasia

Right to die or duty to live? A controversial issue that has shaken the entire world, but
what is euthanasia? By definition, euthanasia is the painless killing of a person, usually
when the person is suffering from an incurable and painful, disease or condition, also
called mercy killing, or assisted suicide.
In the declaration of the Human Rights, Euthanasia is not mentioned; actually, the right to
live is one of the most important; nevertheless, if we have the right to live, why cannot we
choose freely and legally our own death time? If the Human Rights talk about the dignity
of the human being, why cannot we deserve a decent death? Doctors are not allowed to
perform a euthanasia, although, the patient has the right to refuse treatments, but this
means a painful and dimming death.
The catholic church is one of the main opponents of euthanasia, and their greatest
argument against it, it is the Gods law infringement, because God gives us life and he is
the only one who can take it from us. But even Jesus gave, voluntarily his life. Why cannot
we do the same? This is, under any circumstances, a suicide permission: only a call to
understand the suffering of a person who prefers to die, before misery. Because, what
happens when our life is no longer as we used to know it? In 2015, Chile was astonished
by the euthanasia request from a 14 years old girl, who suffered of Cystic Fibrosis; her
brother had already died from the same disease, and eventually, she was going to die, too.
Therefore, she asked the Chilean President put me to sleep forever. Even tough, the
President went to visit the girl, she could not do anything, because, according to the
Chilean law, euthanasia is illegal. After three months of the request, the girl died.
Surely few would wish to be remembered or to remember a loved one as helpless,
incontinent, pain-racked or sedated. Currently it is illegal to assist suicide in Chile.
Therefore, people who are in unbearable pain die alone, if they commit suicide, because
they do not want to put their beloved ones at risk. The famous case of the Spanish Ramon
Sampedro, the quadriplegic who campaigned for almost 30 years to be allowed to take his
own life away. He believed he was not living with dignity, and the only thing he looked
forward, was his death. His main argument rested on the fact that he was sure he wanted
to die.
If we gather these stories, a pattern can be seen: most people do not want to suffer, to be
in pain, to be remembered in awful conditions by their families. Euthanasia should be

legalized because people have the right to live without pain, because living is a right, not a
duty.

Loreto Montti Ros