Euthanasia should not be treated as a crime Research Paper

Euthanasia should not be treated as a crime - Research Paper Example This holds more relevant when human rights i.e. basic rights of the people which are utmost important to lead a dignified life in the society are not enjoyed by them. The exposure to critical diseases like cancer and AIDS will make any person psychologically very weak and he may develop an element of pessimism towards his life. Some of the diseases like vitiligo and other skin diseases may lead to skin discoloration and they may be subjected to social boycott and hence leads to stigma and schizophrenia. In these circumstances, the mental strength of the patients may be affected significantly leading to a thought of ending life. In addition, the access to sound financial resources plays critical role in deciding the mental strength of any person. It makes people to go for better health care and education and social prestige in the society and hence their view towards life will be highly optimistic. On contrary, the people who are financially weak or bankrupt, they face lot of challeng es in the form of ill health status, social prestige and poor education and hence they may become disinterested to continue their life. Hence, in the event of poor financial status, exposure to critical and life taking diseases and lack of access to basic human rights, the people may feel that they are not going to enjoy a quality life in the society and they become highly pessimistic towards leading their life. Let us critically analyze the above mentioned factors one by one. 1. Human Rights Human rights also represent the right to quality of life and right to die along with right to dignity (Griffin, 2008). At any circumstances human rights must be protected or honored in the society. When a person is denied for the access to good health in nursing homes, and good working environment for the workers and lack of reasonable freedom to prisoners, it is understood that the right to dignity is at stake and hence the person may feel highly depressed with out any optimism to lead life (P itcher, 2010). Similarly, when a person is not enjoying good quality nutrition due to lack of access to food along with poor quality family life, his right to quality life is at danger. Their right to die might be considered as a human right due to exceptionally poor quality life and mental trauma and pessimism. It also comes under personal freedom, a basic human right to take decision about their lives. It is easier to argue that no body should be allowed to take their lives on their own under some legal clauses in some nations. However, it is equally important to note that the mental torture enjoyed by them due to lack of access to basic amenities is quite phenomenal. Unless we become successful in reversing the scenario in the form of provision of basic access to education, health and food to all people, we can’t change their idea of taking their lives. 2. Diseases In addition to issue of human rights, diseases play vital role in shaping the person’s thoughts about his life. Many patients with serious illnesses have transient thoughts about ending their lives (Carter, 2010 ; Smith, 2006) in the form of euthanasia or mercy killing. Hence, the moral grounds of euthanasia or mercy killing needs to be examined thoroughly before coming to a conclusion whether euthanasia should be treated as a crime or not (Hermsen and Have, 2002). It was reported that about 26% of physicians were