There is no right to die. Some people want right to die for those people who think they can not live a life of dignity. Some people want people who suffer for a long time to have the right to choose between life and death.
Dignity is subjective. It cannot be a ground to end life.
Right to choose means if a person is unconscious his family members will have the right to decide about him. This is dangerous.
Ordinary measures are to be taken to save life. Extraordinary measures need not be taken. Extraordinary measures can be medical or financial. People need not sell their house to pay medical bills.
It is wrong to say that you love someone too much and therefore you cannot see him or her suffering and want to end his or her life. Love gives strength to the person who suffers.
There are several cases where patients who were considered incurable by doctors have recovered and lived a good life for several years. If they were put to death those years of life would have been lost.
The specific argument regarding India that resources are limited and therefore life should not be prolonged has no merit. People spend their money for their family members. Saving of one person’s life does not deprive another person of anything.
There is nothing undignified in being bed ridden.
Some years back Reader’s Digest had carried an article about the dangers of Euthanasia. Euthanasia is allowed in Holland. Doctors are casual in their approach. Once one patient signalled that he did not want to die and the doctor was about to end his life. In one case the right to die became duty to die. One person’s relatives had come to see the sick person. The person was under pressure to die.
