Nowadays, Euthanasia is one of the most controversial medical and ethical topics. It refers to the medical practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering. There are two different types of euthanasia. Active euthanasia, which is purposely giving someone a lethal dose of a sedative, also passive euthanasia which is withholding or limiting life-sustaining treatments so that a person passes more quickly. A doctor may also prescribe increasingly high doses of pain-killing medication which can be toxic overtime. In my opinion, active euthanasia should be legalized but only if certain conditions are met such as: it should be voluntarily, used after a certain age, and only if we are sure that the patient cannot be saved or that he is aware of what he is doing.

            First, euthanasia should always be voluntary. If someone makes a conscious decision to seek help with ending their life, it’s considered voluntary euthanasia. However, Nonvoluntary euthanasia involves someone else making the decision to end another’s life. A close family member usually makes the decision which involves passive euthanasia, such as withdrawing life support from someone who’s showing no signs of brain activity.

            Secondly, Euthanasia should only be allowed from a certain age, before which children would be too young to decide and understand the consequences of the decision they are taking. In Belgium, the doctors decide if it is possible to euthanize the child according to its capacity of discernment, contrary to the Netherlands, where the minimum age for euthanasia is 12 years.

            Finally, Euthanasia should only be used if we are certain that the patient cannot be saved and is therefore destined to die painfully. the doctors also have to be sure that the patient is aware of the decision he is making.

            In my opinion, active euthanasia should be allowed everywhere because the right to die should be a matter of personal choice. As Michael Irwin, a coordinator of the “Society for Old Age Suicide” said, “We are able to choose all kinds of things in life from who we marry to what kind of work we do and I think when one comes to the end of one’s life, whether you have a terminal illness or whether you’re elderly, you should have a choice about what happens to you”.

            Also, sometimes euthanasia is a better solution than a slow and painful death that can lead some people to suicide. In the “New England Journal of Medicine”, Marcia Angell, a senior lecturer in social media tells the story of her father who “shot himself rather than endure a protracted death from metastatic cancer of the prostate.”

            Finally, in some cases, euthanasia is better for the patient but also for the relatives because it can be more painful to see a family member or a friend suffer than to use euthanasia.

            As I said earlier, euthanasia should be legalized because everyone has the right to decide of their own life. Also, euthanasia is sometimes a better solution than suicide or suffering. Finally, it can also help the family of the patient to use euthanasia rather than seeing the patient suffering without doing nothing. However, euthanasia should only be used if certain solutions are met.