The Right to Die

Proper health care, social liberty, trial before the law and suffrage. Modern day citizens would deem these fundamental human rights. Such elements are imperative in protecting three qualities accentuated throughout Western history and modern democracies—freedom, equality and justice. Such elements are also imperative in ultimately, and collectively, defending a perhaps divine right—the right to life.

The notion that every individual has the right to life—life that is defined by freedom, equality and justice—is an obvious and a noble one. It is exactly what drives society to restructure and reform; it is a stimulus that minutely decreases the gap between societies and the unattainable utopia. From the faith in such a belief, one receives a sense of security and stability, for life without freedom, equality and justice would be one void of order and meaning. However, such a notion also inevitably raises a question regarding an opposite idea that has been contentiously debated internationally for decades: What about the right to die?

The right to die is a moral principle and cannot be interpreted literally—it is based on the belief that every person is entitled to undergo voluntary euthanasia, the painless killing of an individual suffering from an incurable disease or in an irreversible coma. The concept, admittedly, is daunting, and can be unholy for some. Life, as many know it, is sacred, and regardless of what suffering one encounters, there is an innate beauty in overcoming those sufferings—hence, everyone is entitled to the right to life. A voluntary cease to one’s life, therefore, may seem to be equivalent to failure, even cowardrice.

However, the right to die neither champions all suicides nor undermines the value of life and the right to life; rather, it grants autonomy and dignity—qualities essential to all human beings—and the recognition of this capacity has been growing.

Domestically, voluntary euthanasia—specifically Physician Aid in Dying (PAD)—has pervaded the discourse in numerous state governments. Up until this October, PAD was legal in four states—Washington, Oregon, Vermont and New Mexico. The list expanded to five this October, when California’s governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that legalized PAD in the state.

Moreover, according to Oct. 5 issue of The New York Times, “In 2014, four states considered bills to allow physicians to help terminally ill patients end their lives; this year, that number increased to 24 states plus the District of Columbia,” of which California adopted its bill on voluntary euthanasia. The recent considerations of statutes that grant PAD, as well as California’s newly adopted law, signify the gradual acceptance of the right to die and the recognition of its capacities.

At the international level—particularly in Europe—a trend that parallels that of the U.S. exists. With Belgium and Netherlands leading the right-to-die movement, many European nations already have an established set of policies regarding voluntary euthanasia. Furthermore, several other countries, such as Russia, are beginning to consider and accept PAD, as well as other types of euthanasia.

That being said, some forms of euthanasia should not be endorsed. In Belgium, the leading proponent of PAD in Europe, physicians possess the power to determine whether a patient deserves PAD and ultimately grant it—even to children. Consequently, the nation has the highest rate of death resulted by euthanasia out of any country in the world; some of the cases involve physically healthy patients who have mental disorders or illnesses that are widely considered to be curable and manageable.

Euthanasia can only be empowering when it is the last resort—the last option a person may choose. It should be offered to those who cannot enjoy life as a result of their physical conditions—disabilities and diseases that dispossess one’s ability to be aware of one’s life and the capacities to live a life defined by freedom, equality and justice. And when the right to die is instituted for those who are dispossessed, it will then grant a sense of ownership of one’s own mind and body, the dignity of one’s own life and the riddance of pains—both physical and mental—that every individual deserves. ♥