Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Ken can’t move… His career, his passion and his relationship to his girlfriend, depends on his

ability to move. Kens situation is that, he is sentenced to be in a hospitals bed for the rest of his life.

Looking at his previous life and how he is now, I understand his desire for taking his own life.

Whatever he does, he can’t practice his passion and live for what he appreciates. All he has left is

his mind, a very well functioning mind actually. The fact that he is such a smart bloke means that he

understands his situation; he is able to question it and a very articulate guy. I think that makes him

capable of taking this decision.

I also respect Ken’s decision because, he has no living relatives. Since he broke up with his

girlfriend, he won’t leave a lot of sorrow in connection with his death. In most cases, a decision of

this kind would leave an arsenal of relatives and friends in pain. Normally, the patient would have

to review this with all relatives. In Ken’s case, this is not an issue. I think this makes his decision

easier to make.

The Judge accepts Ken’s request about having him discharged from the hospital. If you look at this

case in it self (meaning you don’t consider, what the law says or how many other suffering patients

who would request a similar euthanasia), I think the verdict was right. Ken was not clinically

depressed, he was depressed as a consequence of the car accident. The fact that he is not clinically

depressed, means that he is capable of making a rational decision. This was the judge’s argument

for letting Ken be euthanized. This, plus the fact that he has no relatives, convinces me that the

verdict was correct. If I was to look at the verdict, from a bigger perspective, I think there are more

problems connected to this case. These problems put the judge in a difficult situation.

Euthanasia is an extremely difficult discussion. In order to succeed an operation like this, you have

to consider each case thoroughly. Critics claim that there are too many grey areas to cover and that

euthanasia can not be regulated safely. This is an endless debate, because it is a matter of opinion.

My opinion is that euthanasia is possible to regulate. You have to analyse the circumstances

thoroughly, before you can make the decision. It is a fragile decision and it takes a long time to

analyse the circumstances. On the other hand, it is also an important decision that, may lead to anend of a suffering person’s misery. Euthanasia can always occur, I think the best solution to this is

to regulate it properly and have doctors to do the injection, which secures