Patrick+L's+Letter

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Euthanasia Letter to Mr. Wesley Smith By: Patrick Levesque

Dear Mr. Wesley Smith,

My name is Patrick Levesque, and I am a student in Mr. Geib’s Bioethics class. Thank you for taking the time to help further my education in bioethics, specifically in the topic of euthanasia. I respect your opinions fully and appreciate your involvement in this project. In addition, thank you for your studies and for your contributions in this area of bioethics. Reading the blog that you posted on our BioScience page and the article you wrote in response to the film //Million Dollar Baby//, I am in agreement with your opinion. I believe that euthanasia is wrong. There is far too much potential in a human life to waste it. When someone is euthanized, not only is life being taken away from the individual, but a “culture of death” is brought about. How can any good come out of a society where death is accepted? How can we uphold equal treatment for others when many assume that handicapped or disabled people would rather die than live? Even if euthanasia is practiced sparingly by doctors, we will begin to fall down the slippery slope and we may use it in ways that were not intended. We must uphold life, and limit the power of doctors because no human should be allowed to play God. Only He has the ability to hold one’s life in His hand. The Catholic faith states that all people have a right to life. According to the “Declaration on Euthanasia”, written by Cardinal Franjo Seper, life is “a gift of God’s love, and we are called to make the most out of it, preserving it, and lead life with God’s purpose in mind.” Although I am not Catholic, I am proud to call myself a Christian, and I firmly agree with this position. God has created every person to carry out a purpose according to his plan. By committing an act of euthanasia, we are hindering his plan from taking place. Not only is it disrespecting the Creator, but it is also in itself a sin. It says in the Declaration that, “Suicide is considered as bad as murder and a rejection of God’s sovereignty and plan, and that making an attempt on the life of an innocent person…is committing a crime of the upmost gravity.” God has a purpose to every life on Earth, and only time should allow that plan to be revealed. I stand by the Catholic stance on euthanasia and their upholding the sanctity and celebration of the human life as stated, “Euthanasia is a violation of the divine law, an offense against the dignity of a human person, a crime against life, and an attack on humanity.” Those who lean left support euthanasia and say it’s a civil rights act to protect the freedom of an individual, but in all honesty, they are making suicide acceptable. You would never blatantly tell someone to commit suicide, but subliminally, those that support it are giving those who want to die the “OK” to do so. They are in opposition of my fight in support of life. One argument suggests that those who want to die want to die with dignity, at peace, or to die without the suffering of themselves or family members. To me, this is cowardly. There is no dignity whatsoever in giving up hope on life. Put in simpler terms, it is giving up on one’s self. People would much rather take the easy way out than suffer or endure, and there is no honor in that. To me, dying with dignity is giving it all you’ve got and working to keep every second of life that you have. What do you have to lose by doing so? Although, euthanasia allows proper closure for family members, I know many who believe it to be more painful to watch someone die at their own hands or by their own choice, than to die naturally. Proper closure doesn’t only happen in times where a patient will die through euthanasia, but can be applicable to patients’ families and friends even when the patient is dying through natural causes, as seen in the CNN article: //Families Learn to Say Goodbye to Dying//. Doctors who practice euthanasia are not doing their duty of bringing about healing and health. In my opinion, they are in control of the life of their patients, and in the use of euthanasia, have chosen to end the life of their patients. I do, however, believe that doctors are morally right in allowing “passive” life-shortening acts by discontinuing life saving acts and letting God have control. It is wrong for a doctor to take actively helping a patient die, like Dutch Doctor Pieter Admiraal and his patient Carla at the Dignitas Clinic. Aside from euthanasia, doctors must protect life. Although it is the duty of a doctor to provide for the well-being of a patient and administer to the patient’s needs, doctors should stand for life and rehabilitation. When a patient suffers with depression after an injury or becoming handicapped, what they need is loving care and attention from doctors, family, and friends; not the ability to die. Like you said in your //Million Dollar Baby// article, those who endure a depressed post injury after five years have the same depression levels as the general public. We should not kill people but instead help them find their purpose and achieve their potential. By killing them we do nothing to help them. You said it best in your blogsite posting that, euthanasia is “abandonment, and cheats people out of the most precious and irreplaceable commodity; time—time in which the person might have come out of the darkness and back into the light.” In closing, euthanasia is wrong and an abuse to newly developed science and health techniques. Life should be valued highly and the human person supported. Euthanasia is the antithesis of this, as it makes death acceptable and devalues the importance of human life. We must uphold good moral standards, provide care for individuals who suffer, and improve the lives of those wishing to die. It is important to live life to the fullest. Euthanasia does not benefit anyone. Endure challenges optimistically because in all honesty, “Life is what you make it.”