Euthanasia Shanda Hastings West Virginia University

EUTANASIA 7
proper authority and an autopsy could always be available if
necessary. These stipulations will check that there isn't pressure from
one person that may cause the patient to do something that they don't
want to do by forcing many different individuals to be involved.
The last two risks not covered by these regulations are costs and
benefits. Potts' argument that the poor will be inclined to opt for
euthanasia because of the financial burden of terminal health care,
seems to be a weak argument. In fact the middle and upper class
have more to lose financially because if you are poor the government
picks up the bill. Where as the middle and upper class have to pay
their own bills. However, Judge Noonan argues that the poor would
most likely choose euthanasia because they don't have the resources
to obtain the quality of care people with money do. So often the
choice of euthanasia may seem to be the best choice when dealing
with their well-being(Noonan 100). However, as long as insurance
companies keep the options that they now have, voluntary active
euthanasia would not cause the poor to lose any of their choices, but
instead increase their number of choices. There could be a problem if
all of a sudden the insurance agencies stopped covering treatments
that kept the terminally ill alive. There really isn't a way to make it
illegal to drop treatments, but the government could counter this by
offering monetary rewards to insurance agencies who have these
treatments. This is a plausible plan that is already being considered
for countering the problem with insurance agencies not covering
certain treatments and necessities such as blood sugar monitors, to
prevent people with serious problems such as diabetes from choosing
their insurance.
The objections to Argument B such as the regulations are too
strict or that no doctor would perform euthanasia due to the fear of
lawsuits, do not hold up if procedure is followed correctly. If
voluntary euthanasia was handled as a legal contractual agreement,
where lawyers are present, the whole situation protects both the
patient and the doctor from a lawsuit. Plus these procedures, which
don't seem too strict since we are talking about human life, would
have major punishments for those who do not follow them. Also
there are many organizations already and more can be formed, who
set out to protect people such as the handicapped or the "unwanted"