It is absolutely absurd that in a world that promotes free rights and choice for human beings that people are told they do not have the right to die. Many governments worldwide are restricting individuals from ending their life via euthanasia. People are being told legally that they must remain alive and that they do not have a choice in whether they are to exist or not. Surely the choice to live or not is the ultimate freedom, and perhaps the most important human right there is.
If an individual’s choice of life is restricted on an existence level then all other rights are hypocritical. As the other freedoms and liberties individuals experience are nullified by the fact that they do not wish to be experiencing them. Obviously this is a sensitive and subjective topic, in which there are always cases to be made for both sides. However ultimately it comes to the fact that individuals are having their very existence made into a legal obligation.
The case against humans having the right to die usually lies in that individuals are not always in the correct state of mind to make that decision. It is stated that some illnesses can cause unstable mental judgement and cause ill mental health. In this case it is therefore suggested that if someone is at risk of ill mental health or deemed mentally ill then they may not be able to take their own life. It is put forward that if euthanasia was allowed on a global basis then many lives would be taken under clouded judgement.
Whilst this cannot be specifically argued against, it can be said that this by no means explains why all humans do not have the right to die. It is a specific case in which a set of circumstances are being used to support a wider case in general. It runs along the same lines as involuntary psychiatric treatment and civil commitment. It is imposing legal rules in a very subjective area in which not all cases can be conclusively proved.
What the case against euthanasia cannot answer is why can legally sane patients not have the right to take their own life? If they can make a sound judgement and are in so much suffering that they would rather not live then taking away that choice is extremely authoritarian. It goes against the grain of a democratic and free society to impose such a rule. If the individual does not want to live, then what exactly is the point of forcing them to stay alive? Without going too far it is not incomparable to torture. Of course that is not to say that assisted suicide is moral, ethical or right but it should be an option to individuals who wish to take that option. It is not the job of government to explicitly dictate how (or in this case when) people should live. Individuals should have the right to die when they explicitly request that, especially over a sustained period of time.
