Is Dying Really a Right? March 31, 1976 was the day the New Jersey Supreme Court gave the parents of Kathleen Quinland, a young comatose woman, permission to take her off of life support systems. This is theday which is believed to be the birth of the modern right-to-die movement. Euthanasia, commonlyknown as mercy killing, is a way to end the agony of those who are suffering from terminalillnesses and should be legalized instead of having to be preformed in secrecy. The medical and ethical concerns focus on the health care delivery system as it impactsend-of-life decisions. There are three categories that this can be broken into. They are the qualityof life, how decisions at the end of life are made, and the physician’s changing role in end-of-lifeactions (Roberts, 22). The quality of life is constantly being redefined. The courts now support an individualisticapproach to euthanasia, rather than imposing a society-wide prescription to what they feelconstitutes the quality of one’s life. Since the quality of life can only be determined by theindividual, directives allow individuals, or should they become incompetent, their families toexpress their preferences (Roberts, 23). Because only the individual or their families can decide what that particular personsquality is they should have the right to choose if euthanasia is an option. For those who sufferfrom terminal illnesses, euthanasia would be a way to escape from intolerable pain that cannot bealleviated by pain relieving drugs (Minois, 131). However those who oppose euthanasia believe that if a person has a terminal illness thatperson should not be assisted in death and should have as much aid in staying alive as possible.They believe that as long as the brain is still functioning then there is still hope, even thoughwithout the life support system the terminally ill would otherwise be unable to survive (Roberts,26)....
