Mercy Killing

Although putting vegetative or terminally ill patients out of misery can be desirable, it can also be costly. Euthanasia is currently against the supreme law of the United States, and many politicians and religious group members from all over our country are arguing for and against this controversial issue. Their ideas and arguments are usually based on their very own religious beliefs and values. In my opinion, it is neither the government nor the religious groups’ choice to make decisions for patients and their families. The United States of America is a country that believes in freedom and human rights. We, the people of the United States, have our very own religious freedom and rights; thus, the victim’s family should be the responsible for the decision of putting their loved ones out of misery.

Government and religious groups are debating over this particular issue. In 2005, Tom Delay, the majority leader of the House of Representatives, stated that he is against the removal of feeding tubes. As one of the most outspoken opponents of removing the “human plant’s” feeding tube, the media discovered “…Nineteen years ago, Delay and his family had to make a similar decision over his own comatose father, and they elected not to keep him alive by artificial means” (Democracy Now). This piece of information is the key to revealing that Tom Delay is subjective about the current “mercy killing” issue, yet, emotional in the past about his father’s comatose issue. Nineteen years ago, he was able to put his father out of misery by pulling the plug. In 1998, he was against the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. Seventeen years ago,

26-year-old Terri Schiavo suffered severe brain damage and her heart stopped for several minutes. Schiavo received treatments and therapy in the rehabilitation centers and nursing homes, yet, she did not regain her brain function back to normal. Because she remained in a comatose state, her husband, Michael Schiavo, attempted to file a legal petition to remove Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube. On the other hand, Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, were against Michael Schiavo’s request. Thus, their conflicts went to the Superior court in Florida. Eventually, congress and various religious groups intervened the Terri Schiavo’s case. In particular, Tom Delay supported Bob and Mary Schindler. He tried to develop a sympathetic and subjective standing in front of the media to project a “House of Majority Leader” image for his future campaigns. Therefore, he emphasized a religious approach to support his side. Since the United States is mostly based on Christianity, he used facts and teaching from the bible to support his approach. Hence, his actions towards Terri Schiavo’s case are undeniably different and contradicting compare to the decision he made for his father nineteen years ago. Proven by the previous scenario, it was shown that the government should not be involved with this type of personal issues. The government will only try to come up with a desirable solution to satisfy the public instead of helping the problem itself because our society is pro-choice when it comes to human rights. Ultimately, it should be the victim’s family to use their morals and beliefs to settle the problems themselves.

Although many of the religious beliefs may be against the “Killing Mercy” idea, there are various religious in our society today. Dr. Malamed Co-hen is Israel’s most terminally ill patient, he theoretically pointed out that “God has allowed me to live in order to show the world that even in such a condition one can continue to be creative and contribute to society... The

message of Judaism is that one must struggle until the last breath of life. Until the last moment, one has to live and rejoice and give thanks to the Creator" (Killing Mercy).