EUTHANASIA

Euthanasia is the painless practice of ending the life of a person suffering from severe
and incurable diseases such as being in a permanent vegetative state (Gandhi, 2020). It is also
known as mercy killing. This practice gives the patients the option to die by refusing treatment or
removing mechanical life-support measures. It also includes administering fatal medications to
end the life of an incurably or terminally sick patient. Euthanasia is supported with individual
rights in mind (Singer, 1990). The people with incurable, debilitative, and disabling conditions
may have experienced unbearable extreme suffering and depression (Pereira, 2011). Thus, they
have the right to decide when, in whose hand, and how they die to end their distress.
Furthermore, many patients do not want to burden their family members financially,
emotionally, socially, and physically. It is costly to keep people alive when there is no cure for
their illness. So, euthanasia might be the best way to be taken.

On the contrary, the two major religions worldwide that have each holy book that gives
them unique moral guidelines strongly oppose euthanasia practice. In Christianity, they believed
that God creates life must be preserved and saved, and it is sacred under Christian Law. If
someone breaks the faith, it could risk losing a peaceful afterlife (Chowdhury, 2012).
Furthermore, the Islamic holy book, the Quran, states, "it is not given to any soul to die, save by
the leave of God, at an appointed time." From this quote from the Quran (Chowdhury, 2012), it
can be deciphered that God appoints death to each individual, and this appointment must and
cannot be broken by the individual who is temporarily in that body (Hood et al., 2009). Based on
the two major religions, it shows the same viewpoint in prohibiting euthanasia. From a medical
perspective, doctors' involvement in euthanasia is regulated in "pasal 11 ayat 2" of the
Indonesian Medical Ethics Code (KODEKI) concerning life protection. The article states that a
doctor is prohibited from being involved or not allowed to end the life of someone who,
according to science and knowledge, is impossible to recover (IDI, 2012). It is in line with one of
the Hippocratic oaths: "I will not give a lethal drug to anyone even if asked, or recommend to
them for that purpose" (Taty Fauzi, 2017). It can be seen that based on a health perspective,
euthanasia is still not allowed because doctors have to stay professional and strive as much as
possible to treat patients. Moreover, euthanasia is morally incorrect and should be forbidden by
any law. It is a homicide and murdering another human, and it cannot be rationalized under any
circumstances. We believe that euthanasia will also bring us to a great deed because it is one of
the ways to end someone's life on purpose. In this case, we can say that when someone wants to
take over the family legacy or inheritance, they will make this way become an option to end
someone's life in a vegetative condition by doing active euthanasia. It is in line with an article
written by Dr. Maisie.M, who says that "Family heirs would misuse the euthanasia rights for
wealth inheritance. The reason being even in the absence of legalized mercy killing, the relatives
can withdraw the life support systems that could lead to the early death of the said individual",
which implies that euthanasia could lead to deliberate murder. In addition, it supported the
contradiction of euthanasia above. Criminal Law in Indonesia has addressed Euthanasia in PP
Articles 338, 340 and 344 of the Criminal Code regarding the prohibition of killing, depriving
people's lives, whether as their request or not, will still be sentenced to a maximum
imprisonment of 12 years (Asma, 2018).
From the explanation above, it can be inferred that euthanasia should be banned
worldwide, and it cannot be rationalized under any circumstances. Many perspectives against
euthanasia include religion, medical, social, and the law. Moreover, there are some aspects where
there is a greater possibility of euthanasia being mishandled.
References

Asma, N. (2018). Euthanasia dan Prospeksi Pengeturannya dalam Hukum Islam dan Hukum
Pidana. Jurnal Al-Himayah, 2, 167–190.

Chowdhury, R. (2012). The Role Religion Plays in Attitudes Toward Euthanasia. 2012, 76.
http://etd.fcla.edu/CF/CFH0004254/CHOWDHURY_REZAWANA_201208_BS.pdf

Hood, R. W., Jr., P. C. H., & Spilka, B. (2009). The Psychology of Religion. The Guilford Press.

Gandhi, Armaan. (2020). EUTHANASIA: A Study into the Ethical and Legal Dimensions.
International Journal of Advanced Research (IJAR).
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4105883

Hood, R. W., Jr., P. C. H., & Spilka, B. (2009). The Psychology of Religion. The Guilford Press.

https://www.sanjuan.edu/cms/lib/CA01902727/Centricity/Domain/4026/Mercy%20Killing
%20Articles.pdf

Pereira, J (2011). Legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide: the illusion of safeguards and
controls. Current Oncology, mdpi.com, https://www.mdpi.com/942212

Singer, PA, & Siegler, M (1990). Euthanasia—a critique., Mass Medical Soc,
https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199006283222610