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Jakarta Post

Your letters: Euthanasia shouldn'€™t be legalized

Not all diseases and ailments endured by a person have medicines that can help him or her recover

The Jakarta Post
Wed, July 1, 2015

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Your letters: Euthanasia shouldn'€™t be legalized

N

ot all diseases and ailments endured by a person have medicines that can help him or her recover. Some diseases plunge the patient to a coma.

A coma, according to the dictionary, is a condition where a person is in a state of deep and often prolonged unconsciousness.

This circumstance has inspired many groups to call for euthanasia as an effort to alleviate the suffering of a person. Euthanasia is an attempt to end one'€™s life with the goal of ending his or her suffering, either because of a disease or a condition that leaves a person in a vegetative state with very little chance of recovery.

Euthanasia has sparked controversy and debate, particularly concerning its legal basis.

In my opinion, there are three main reasons why euthanasia should not be legalized in Indonesia.

First, every person in this world has the right to life. This means we see the legal status of euthanasia from a human rights perspective. In practice, the decision to terminate one'€™s life is not directly taken by the patient, which contradicts a basic principal of human rights.

Second, there are still alternatives to euthanasia. When the problem is about the cost of medical care, families can bring patients home and care for them there. In such cases, the hospital must provide the families with some brief training about how to care for patients in a coma.

There are some studies on alternative ways of dealing with patients in a coma. One of them is research on the influence of positive words on a person'€™s healing. The prayers and support of the family will help lure back the working power of the patient'€™s brain.

In this case the government should also provide equitable health facilities for communities across Indonesia so that every citizen has the same access to health services and an equal opportunity to recover.

Third, and the most important reason, is that euthanasia leads to more killing. When euthanasia is legalized for certain reasons, it will give a pretext for mercy killing. This is where doctors play God, and determine the fate of patients themselves. Legalized euthanasia will give doctors a license to kill.

Traditional medical codes of ethics do not allow doctors to assist euthanasia, even on the request of a patient, or the person closest to the patient, like a family member.

Therefore the government should firmly prohibit the practice of euthanasia and harshly punish anyone who performs or plans to perform euthanasia.

Annisa Aulia
University student

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