There are several alternative approaches and options for people with terminal conditions or those experiencing intolerable suffering.
REFUSING TREATMENT though considered irrational can be an alternative in some cases. For example, a person may refuse a course of chemotherapy for life-threatening cancer if they do not want to face the side effects of chemotherapy. However, this is not to say that a person suffering from a mental illness can do so because that person might not be in his/her right mind to take that decision.
PALLIATIVE CARE is an alternative to Euthanasia. Palliative care for terminal patients helps to relieve and prevent the pain and suffering of sick patients. It also makes the end period of their lives easier. Moreover, Palliative care can take place at home or in a hospital, nursing home, or other facilities.
AUTONOMY, or the right to make decisions about one‘s own life, is a basic human right. Individuals should be allowed to determine their own fate, and this includes the right to choose death. In some terminal illness cases, patients lose their autonomy and by ending their lives patients are exercising their right of choice and therefore will make a decision beneficial for everyone. However, there is a need to place a restriction on this autonomy. For example, in societies like that exist in the United States and Canada autonomy has limits because one person‘s choices can affect the lives of others.
There is also a need to address the problem of DEPRESSION in sick people. Treating depression would greatly reduce the desire for euthanasia. In many cases, people suffering from serious illnesses request euthanasia because they are depressed.
