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Lesson 8

The Right to Die

Do we have the right to let a terminally ill patient die?
Consider this case: the patient is semi-comatose, lying on a

hospital bed with multicolored IV needles attached to his veins. He
looks like an alien from a low budget science fiction movie, with all

those machines he is hooked into. Only it’s no laughing
matter .The patient is breathing spasmodically, obviously in great

pain, half-conscious he may be. The EKG reads an ever weakening

line, the patient is near death. But from the way his hands would clench, this man is
fighting for his life. The doctors said he has only a few more months to live. Months

are like centuries. To a man in pain, time drags. Around the bed are the loving
relatives, dark halos around their eyes. Too much coffee, and too little sleep. An

ocean of tears shed, only a cold emptiness remains. With each struggle of the man
on the bed, a cry of pity would escape their lips. “Should we pull the plug and end

his suffering?”, this question hangs on their heads like storm clouds over a boat on
sea. But a small ray of hope would pierce through,” miracles do happen. All is not lost

until it’s lost.” Euthanasia is sometimes defined as mercy killing. To spare a hopeless
person from needless pain, the plug is pulled, the lifesustaining machines stop

humming, and the man on the bed lies still. Dead finally. Dead thankfully. Did we just

do a horrible murder? Or did we grant a much needed rest?

Comprehension

1. What is Euthanasia?
2. Why is there mercy killing?

Questions

1. What do you think of Euthanasia?
2. Does a person have the right to die?

Vocabulary & Expressions

Terminally: Causing, ending in, or approaching death; fatal
Comatose: Of, relating to, or affected with coma; unconscious.
Spasmodically: Relating to, affected by, or having the character of a spasm;
convulsive.
Emptiness: without force, effect, or significance; hollow; meaningless
Euthanasia: the act of killing someone painlessly (especially someone suffering
from an incurable illness
Humming: to make a low, continuous, droning sound.
Small ray of hope: a little chance

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