Sociology

Euthanasia or mercy killing refers to the practice where a person with a painful, distressing or an incurable handicap or disease is painlessly assisted to die (Gormally, 1997). It can be of many forms since voluntary euthanasia occurs when the person consents to have their life terminated, while involuntary euthanasia is when a person life is taken according to a surrogate decision and in the absence of their approval. Passive euthanasia is when a patient is allowed to die by denying them treatment or taking them off the life support machines and feeding tubes (Gormally, 1997). Active euthanasia is when a direct intervention is made to assist the patient to die so as to end their suffering.
The issue of euthanasia is very controversial since they are those who favor it and those who are against it. There have been several calls to legalize euthanasia in America dividing the country into two distinct groups of those who vehemently appose this move and those who support it. The pro-euthanasia argue that every human being has the right to die decently and avoid the excruciating pain that is associated with terminal illnesses. People with a devastating mental illness or who suffer from extreme physical disability making them to rely on other people are likely to lead an undignified life and burden the society. Such people have a right to chose whether to live or end their lives instead of being restricted severely by illness. 
Those against euthanasia argue that the sanctity of life should be preserved. Human life should be protected against all odds and no one has a right to end another human beings life prematurely. Legalizing of euthanasia is seen as a sure way of pressurizing people to take their own lives as they are made to feel guilty of burdening the society and their families (Gormally, 1997). There is a high possibility that patients may be offered euthanasia as an option despite not thinking about it prior to this. People experiencing immense pain and depression may be influenced by their conditions to make hasty decisions on ending their lives, whereas such conditions can be adequately treated and prolong their lives. It is very difficult to ascertain that an individual is making a competent decision, when they are experiencing excruciating pain and suffering (Gormally, 1997).  Some people with ulterior motives such as inheriting property may use euthanasia to decide that a helpless person should be put to death so that they can end up being the sole beneficiaries.
The Impacts of Health System on Euthanasia Decisions
The health care system plays a very vital role in the debate of allowing or denying the legalization of euthanasia in America. The cost of providing health care has greatly increased over the years and there are no signs this trend dying any time soon. The scarcity of resources in health care provision has called for prioritization in medical settings (Burke et al., 2008).  There is a perception that using costly medical procedures and high technology to bring out positive outcomes which will prolong life temporary, without any hopes of improving the quality or achieving full recovery is unnecessary. The fact that more people are in dire need of accessing advanced treatment to fully recover, justifies legalization of euthanasia since the scarce health resources will be put into better use.
On the other hand, doctors can make the wrong diagnosis giving the wrong prediction on the outcomes of a given health and medical condition. The rapid expansion of knowledge has led to the introduction of new drugs, technologies and procedures. Some conditions that are considered to be terminal in certain countries can be adequately treated in other places at another time. Legalizing and accepting euthanasia would deny patients the probability of continuing with life. Misdiagnosing people would lead to premature termination of life and cause a lot of distress to the patients family.
If euthanasia is made available, there will be a reduction in the efforts geared towards provision and improvement of care, treatment and diagnosis. If people who are suffering are given the choice of making a decision to die, their removal will lead to a reduction in motivating financial resources to be allocated to research, training of careers , providing caring facilities and maintaining the support systems (Burke et al., 2008).   The economic considerations can motivate the authorities in charge of medical facilities to support euthanasia.  The pressure of improving symptomatic and curative treatment will be reduced if euthanasia is allowed. If legalization of euthanasia had been done 40 years ago, hospice movements would be non-existent today.
There have been tremendous improvements to the terminal care in an attempt to directly reduce the level of suffering among terminally ill patients. There is a possibility that if patients lives had been taken away, no discoveries would have been made on advanced methods of breathlessness, pain and nausea control in addition to other terminal symptoms. There are some diseases that were considered terminal some few decades ago, but they can now be adequately cured through the utilization of the new treatments that have been developed (Burke et al., 2008).  If euthanasia had been accepted earlier on, the urgency of carrying out research efforts to discover the treatments for these diseases would have been undercut prematurely. The acceptance of euthanasia now may lead to a delay in discovering effective treatment for diseases that are currently considered to be terminal.
Consequently, there are numerous stories of patients who have been expected to die making extraordinary recoveries. Doctors have made pessimistic prognosis but have been proven wrong by patients making abrupt recoveries (Burke et al., 2008).   The legitimization of euthanasia would zero-rate such extraordinary recoveries since patients would not be given a chance. The fear of seeking treatment for terminal illnesses is already entrenched in peoples minds. Legalization of euthanasia would prevent patients from seeking early treatment since they would be afraid of being given the option of dying. In some terminal illnesses such as cancer, early intervention is the key to preventable deaths. Institutionalizing euthanasia would lead more patients to shy away from seeking treatment, thus increasing the mortality rate.
Several religions have an impact on euthanasia since they hold the belief that life is sacred and human beings commit a sin by taking away life. There is a general belief that punishment of sin is done by a divine power and the perpetrator who takes away life will be unduly punished. Such beliefs are quite incompatible with the legalization of euthanasia (Burke et al., 2008).  Declining or allowing euthanasia to be legalized cannot be based on religious beliefs since not everyone belongs to a religious movement. The hospices that provide palliative care to terminally ill patients will also oppose the move of legalizing euthanasia since they have helped patients in coping with their conditions, thus prolonging their lives.
The best practices that can help in implementing euthanasia would be allowing the patient to state clearly that they wish to hasten their death since it is quite clear that it is imminent and inevitable (Scherer, 1999).The patients should also give a consent that they cannot bear the physical or mental pain that they are going through, after it is clear that no other treatment is available to alleviate their suffering. The doctors should clearly stipulate to the patients that they have exhausted all the treatment options without pressurizing them to choose the euthanasia option.
The patients should also be allowed to seek second opinions from other doctors prior to making a decision so as to avoid misdiagnosis. Doctors should carefully scrutinize the patient and family members prior to carrying out euthanasia to ascertain that there are no ulterior motives behind this move and patient has made the decision independently without being pressurized. In conclusion, the decision to legalize euthanasia is quite difficult since they are numerous vital factors to be considered.