Refernce

 BBC News. (2012). Right-to-die man Tony Nicklison dead after refusing food. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19341722

 Issac Davison. (2012). Maggie Barry: Euthanasia is not the answer. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10827268

 Jason Renwick. (n.d.). Surveys in New Zealand. Retrieved from http://policyprojects.ac.nz/jasonrenwick/surveys-in-new-zealand/

 Palliative Care Council. (2010). 10 things to know about palliative care in New Zealand. Retrieved from http://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/un-doctored/2010/october-2010/06/10-things-to-know-about-palliative-care-in-new-zealand.aspx

 Robert L. Fine. (2001). Depression, anxiety, and delirium in the terminally ill patient. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1291326/

So to conclude

 Euthanasia is probably one of the trikiest topics to talk about. I mean, it's not like you can ask them whether they think they made a right decision or not. Euthanasia may be illegal but many are in favour of legalizing it if the patient wishes it. The advantages of legallizing voluntary euthanasia are: people can die with diginity, lessens the economical weight for their relatives, and ultimately be out of their misery quicker.

why keep them in their misery?

 There is no doubt that being diagnosed with a terminal illness or becoming disabled is traumatic. Depression is a common occurrence among terminally-ill patients. There are many different types of terminal illness and we don't have any control except relieving some pain. But, we have control to end quick if the patient wishes to do so.

 Among terminally-ill patients, depression is not a rare findings. A study found that prevalence of depression ranges from 25% to 77%. Depression is probably one of deadliest mental disorders that has high association with suicide. Perhaps that is why depressed terminally-ill patients are four times more likely to request euthanasia. Which makes a perfect sense. Death is fearful, there is no doubt about it because you cannot predict when it will happen. So why should people who gives a clear consent to euthanasia suffer in both physical pain and mental torture?

 There are many ways to deal with depression and one of key things is moving forward. It might sound harsh, but terminally-ill patients cannot move forward. So most likely they will still be suffering from depression until their last day. With legalized voluntary euthanasia, we can truly relieve of their misery when they need it.

Cost of avoiding death

Another advantage of legalizing voluntary euthanasia is possibly reducing the cost of palliative care. Palliative care aims to provide necessary physical, psychological, cultural, and spiritual needs for the patients and their relatives. Typically, terminal-ill patients are under palliative care to be looked after. However, this comes with cost. In a way, if a patient wishes to have euthanasia it is cost that can be saved and used for those who wishes otherwise.

 

 National Party MP Maggie Barry is firm opposing any types of euthanasia because the palliative care in New Zealand is one of the best in the world. Also legalizing euthanasia would nullify what palliative care aims to achieve. However, nothing is free in the world. It is difficult to give a precise cost for the palliative care because it depends heavily on what service is required. From my understanding, the cost of palliative care is free but additional features such as specialized equipments, 24-hour nursery staff, and so on. So the free palliative care seems to only include minimal service.

 

 In addition, even if palliative cost is not part of your bill, it still costs your money. It was stated that New Zealand government spent approximately 50 million dollars a year on palliative care in 2010. The government’s main revenue comes from taxes and it continues to grow at an alarming rate. With voluntary euthanasia, it could help lifting some burdens off people who are struggling financially.

Voluntary euthanasia conserve quality of life

 

Even with advanced medical technology there are still incurable diseases such as cancer or and mental disorders such as Alzheimer's. What these have in common is that they are lethal and completely take over your life. Without the option of voluntary euthanasia, all we have left is to suffer under palliative care until we die 'naturally'. During this process, a person’s quality of life and his dignity is completely stripped because even though he may be alive, his life took a turn for the worst.

 There are many cases which voluntary euthanasia seems to be the most fitting solution but did not happen. For example, 58-years-old man called Tony Nicklison died of starvation recently because he was not allowed die even with his own consent. He was paralyzed from the neck down ever since he suffered a stroke seven years ago. He described his last seven years of his life as a living nightmare. He said that he could not live a life with absolutely no possible solution to his problem and his only way out was death. But his request for euthanasia was rejected by the High Court.

 In this case, Tony had a quality life that he could enjoy before the stroke. However, being almost completely paralyzed made that life to a living nightmare and took away his dignity. He had to rely on others to do everyday tasks for seven years. What is the point of him continuing to live when it will never get any better?  Anne Frank said “Where there's hope, there's life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again,” but there was no hope for Tony.

Introduction

 Historically, euthanasia has been considered to be an illegal practice and Bills to legalize euthanasia was often short lived. The fear of misused euthanasia practice was clearly established by  Nazi during the World War II. However, I am supporting voluntary euthanasia should have its place as one of viable legal medical procedure because it could conserve patients' dignity and their quality of life.

 People with terminal illness are treated under palliative care to be relieve of their pain in their last days. However, this does not come for free. With euthanasia being illegal, all patients are forced to take the care. It puts economical burden to their relatives and the government.

 My last argument supporting legalizing voluntary euthanasia is possible reduction time for relatives' grief time and putting patients out of misery. In some cases, there is no solution for those who are suffering. Prolonging this process with palliative care is most likely only to prolong depression for their relatives and patients themselves.