Kitsune
2010-02-05 06:48:12 UTC
Many say that mercy killing is a religious thing, and that it is a sin. Well if God knows that it is your time to leave this Earth, then he will help you on your journey. If God doesn’t want you to die yet, I’m sure He will keep it from happening, correct? What about those who are not religious though? Most people do not take in account for what the other person feels, or even what their religion is, they instantly assume that they are doing the wrong thing.
Dr. Jack Kevorkian (Also known as Dr. Death) is one of the most infamous mercy-killers in the world. Although, he did not do the killing. He allowed the patients to decide for themselves. “In 1989, a quadriplegic, too handicapped to kill himself, publicly asked for assistance, and Dr. Kevorkian began tinkering on a suicide machine.” (http://www.nndb.com/people/272/000023203/). Although the quadriplegic was not the first to test his Euthanasia machine, Jane Adkins decided to be the guinea pig. She was a 54 year-old with Alzheimer’s, and couldn’t bear the pain anymore.
Those who have “Of Mice and Men”, a novel by John Steinbeck, know that there are two forms of mercy killing in there. The first form of mercy killing was the death of Candy’s dog. The dog was very old, had missing teeth, and could hardly move. The dog couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, and his fur was falling out. They ended up shooting the dog to put it out of his misery. The second form of mercy killing in this story is when George killed Lennie. Lennie George knew that if Lennie wasn’t going to be killed slowly and painfully by Curley and the rest of the migrant workers, then he would have been put into an asylum where he would’ve been treated even worse. George did the right thing by helping Lennie, unfortunately, he didn’t give him a choice.
The mercy killing which this lovely little article is about is mercy killing by choice. Mercy killing should only be preformed if the subject has a choice in the matter, and if they are suffering the last stages of a terminal illness, and are in unbearable pain. They know that they are not going to get any better no matter what, and they will be at peace when they are finished.