Did you know that it is not always illegal to kill someone? Yes! Believe it or not, it is actually possible to kill someone and get away with it. How? By committing Euthanasia. Euthanasia is a Greek word which actually means “good death”, in ancient times; Euthanasia meant an easy death without severe suffering. But Euthanasia is “the act of killing someone who is very ill or very old so that they do not suffer any more.” It can be voluntary, involuntary, non-voluntary, by assistance, by action, or even by omission
Voluntary euthanasia is when a person consents to be killed.
Involuntary euthanasia is when a person does not wish to be killed.
Non-voluntary euthanasia is when the person makes neither a request nor consents to be killed.
Euthanasia by assistance is when one helps another die through the provision of information, such as "physician assisted suicide".
Euthanasia by action is when you perform an action that kills a person, such as administering a lethal injection.
Euthanasia by omission is when one purposely fails to provide the necessary equipment to sustain a person’s life, such as not providing food and water.
Proof that euthanasia existed about 2400 years ago is through this statement by Hippocrates, “I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel.”
Euthanasia became popular in Britain around 1935 and 1938 in America. Alfred Hoche, along with Karl Binding, published a book entitled Permission to Destroy Life Unworthy of Living. It states that “euthanasia should be performed on persons physically or mentally unstable to support themselves or on those who are considered worthless to society.” Also, if you think about it, the law, by passing the death sentence on convicts, is committing euthanasia by action, e.g., hanging, lethal injection, electric chair, firing squad, etc. is it really the law’s right to do such a thing?
The main opponent of euthanasia, unsurprisingly, is of course the Catholic Church. Why does the church oppose “Mercy Killing?” Does it want people to suffer? Well, one of the reasons is that in the Ten Commandments, the fifth one, to be exact, states that “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” “Intentional euthanasia, whatever its forms or motives, is murder. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator.” Therefore, no matter how one chooses to look at Euthanasia, it is still killing.
It is also believed that our lives belong to God and that "if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.” If God gave us life, who are we to take it away?
However, it is said in The Catechism of The Catholic Church that “Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of "over-zealous" treatment.” This means that if one has to go to extraordinary means to keep a person alive, a natural death should be allowed. However, the problem is this. What and how do people define “extraordinary”?
We always take pain killers when we are suffering so that it becomes easier for us to carry on. However, what if these pain killers cease to work and our pain and suffering become too much to handle? Many would want to be released from the pain and thus request to die. Imagine if you were paralyzed, cannot move any part of your body and you are powerless to do anything.
To die, perhaps, as the only release from this torment, is death, so let us not refuse these people their release. Let them have it. It is the least we can do. Their life is theirs is it not? It was given to them. It should be their choice as there is no Book of Life that states that someone must be kept alive. Death is inevitable anyway, so just grant them their wish to die. People die everyday. Would another one really matter?
Some people suffering from cancer are in serious pain and painkillers no longer work. Some wish they could just die while others make the best of it. The difference between these people is their attitude. Life can be made good, so why kill yourself?
One term we must really define is “Terminally Ill” Jack Kevorkian stated that it is “any disease that curtails life even for a day” or, "any process that curtails natural life." So who do we “euthanize”? People who smoke perhaps, as smoking harms us and lowers our life expectancy rate. However it is very difficult to say how long we may live; noone can be a hundred percent sure at what age we will die.
Euthanasia is also non-voluntary as well. Who is to say that we can “mercifully kill” another being without his/her consent? Alfred Hoche’s book became the blueprint for the Nazi regime to “mercifully kill” the sick and the dying. These people did not have the chance to say if they wanted to die or not. Why should this be? Noone has the right to say we should die.
Human life is to be valued. It should not just be discarded. “Human life is the basis of all good and is the necessary source and condition of every human activity and of all society.” There are so many types of medicine to help prolong our lives. It what mankind has worked towards, why waste these wonderful antidotes? Is life not sacred to mankind? Is your life not sacred to you? If suicide is illegal, then why should euthanasia be made legal?
It is true. One’s life should be in one’s own hands. We should decide our own fates, our own destinies. God gave us free will, which means, we can do what we want, even end our own lives. However we spend our lives trying to stay alive, trying to prolong the inevitable. We try to prevent death. So then why should we legalize euthanasia? It is against what mankind has worked for. We discovered medicine to prolong our lives. And we now use medicine to kill ourselves? Is Euthanasia Mercy Killing, or is it Senseless Suicide?

References
Euthanasia Definitions.
Available: http://www.euthanasia.com/definitions.html

Arguments against Euthanasia.
Available: http://www.euthanasia.com/argumentsagainsteuthanasia.html
Reasons for Euthanasia.
Available: http://www.euthanasia.com/reasonsforeuthanasia.html
History of Euthanasia
Available: http://www.euthanasia.com/historyeuthanasia.html
Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Euthanasia
Available: http://www.euthanasia.com/vatican.html

Catechism of the Catholic Church
Available: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm

Catechism of the Catholic Church on Assisted-Suicide
Available: http://www.euthanasia.com/catech.html

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