[Letter to the editor]In support of euthanasia

The right to die is a very controversial issue, because it involves a person’s life. Some progressive countries such as the Netherlands allow euthanasia, but most countries oppose it, insisting that no one has the right to decide another person’s death.
However, I support euthanasia because keeping comatose people alive through medical appliances hurts their families mentally and costs them a lot of money.
First, keeping comatose people alive regardless of the family’s decision hurts the family members mentally.
Most of them say it’s really devastating to see their precious loved ones barely manage to stay alive, plugged into all those artificial devices.
They feel hopeless and guilty about their loved one’s condition. For them, releasing their loved ones to peacefully die is much better than helplessly watching the person slowly die.
Second, it’s a huge financial burden for the family members.
Life-saving treatments are too expensive for an ordinary household to pay for many years. Most comatose people have less than a 1 percent chance of waking up again.
Consequently, it seems hopeless to practice life-prolonging treatment to almost dead bodies. Thus, euthanasia should be allowed.
When considering both the comatose person and his or her family, euthanasia is an indispensable option. Problems such as the illegal selling of organs can be regulated through exhaustive inspections.
There are always priorities in practice, and in this case, it’s the family’s mental and financial burden. Therefore, euthanasia should be permitted.
Kyung-Min Lee, senior at Daewon Foreign Language High School