If your family member is a cancer patient, will you let him/her suffer from treatment or die peacefully without receiving any treatment? That’s a tough choice, isn’t it? Instead of living painfully, some patients tend to choose euthanasia to complete the end of life. With the popularity of euthanasia in European countries, a group of advocates who pursue the legitimation of euthanasia in Taiwan have devoted themselves to the action. According to a survey that Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association made, 92% of the participants in this survey agree that euthanasia should be legalized in Taiwan. There are several reasons why people should let euthanasia be legalized in Taiwan.

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    The first reason why euthanasia should be legalized is because it can reduce the patient’s pain. There are some diseases like cancer which will cause patients unbearable pain, especially when it can’t be cured. Some people think that if continuing the treatment  would only let a patient keep suffering from pain, but can’t be cured in the end, it is better for the patient to leave this world by the way which is more painless and peaceful. One of the most famous examples is DaRen-Fu, a famous sports anchor in Taiwan. Before he passed away as a cancer patient, he mentioned that he had to use 160 ml of morphine in his daily routine. Using morphine, he would fall asleep when he stood and fall down to hurt himself; not using morphine would let him feel pain. This situation is a torture for him. Instead of living in pain chronically, he wants to die by receiving euthanasia. As soon as he knew that euthanasia is illegal in Taiwan, he could only go to Switzerland where euthanasia is legal and then took the end-of-life decision. With DaRen-Fu's example, we can see that some patients who suffer from severe diseases have a discomfortable life in old age. Letting euthanasia be legalized in Taiwan not only lets these patients reduce their pain but also provides a path to make them leave the world with dignity.  

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    The second reason why people should choose euthanasia is that this kind of decision may decrease the economic burden and mental stress of a patient's family members. When the patients rely heavily on the assistance of life management by their family, these families will spend lengthy time taking care of the patients. As time goes by, they have to pay a huge medical bill for the medical service. If the patients will not be cured smoothly and return to normal life in the future after the expense of these families, the way of prolonging the patients’ life will only increase unnecessary burden on the family. According to Chambaere, K., Cohen, J. (2017)"Advances in medicine have greatly improved the methods available to treat seriously ill patients and prolong life. However, it is increasingly recognized that prolonging life might not always be an appropriate goal of medicine and that other goals have to guide medical decision making at the end of life, such as improving the quality of life of patients and their families.” If euthanasia be legalized, a patient's family members will not cost a large quantity of time and medical expense anymore.  

 

    Some people in Taiwan may argue that if euthanasia be legitimated, the patients who suffer from unbearable pain will recklessly leave the deprivation of the right to life to the doctors or other medical professionals. However, the patients are still in the driving seat about the decision of end-of-life. On one hand, some of the patients who retain a sense of autonomy can surely make the end-of-life decision for themselves voluntarily. On the other hand, the patients who are disabled should not undergo euthanasia instantly from other’s determinations. They have to go through the professional process before the execution of euthanasia.  Rietjens, et al. (2009) indicated that under the “Euthanasia Act” in the Netherlands, only when the patients realize their physical situation and don't find the alternatives to let his life continue can they voluntarily request for euthanasia with medical personnel. With the case of euthanasia law in the Netherlands, we can see that the patients who choose to commit euthanasia still need to be assessed by rigorous evaluation to be permitted whether they are appropriate to commit euthanasia.  If euthanasia is legalized in Taiwan, we should adopt a similar standard for the evaluation before the execution. With the sound system, the patients in Taiwan can go through the way that lets them pass away unpainfully and peacefully.

 

    In conclusion, euthanasia should be legalized in Taiwan because it not only can reduce the pain of the patients but also can decrease the economic burden and mental stress of a patient's family members. However, some people still think that euthanasia should not be legalized in Taiwan because patients may recklessly leave the right, but we can avoid this situation by setting a complete standard for the evaluation before the execution like Netherland did. Therefore, we can reduce both patients and their family’s pain in the future by letting euthanasia be legalized in Taiwan .

 

 

References

 

1.     Chambaere, K., Cohen, J. (2017). Euthanasia and Public Health. Journal of sciencedirect , 46-56.

2.     Rietjens, et al .(2009). Two decades of research on euthanasia from the Netherlands. What have we learnt and what questions remain?. Journal of bioethical inquiry, 6, 271-283.