Reader Question: Euthanasia for Pets... What about People?

Euthanasia Decision Guidelines for Pets

Here's a very interesting question about a very controversial topic: Euthanasia. Because I just published my book "Pets and the Afterlife" and talk about making the decision to euthanize our pets when they are suffering, I received a question asking why I think that people have an issue with ending human suffering.

QUESTION:  My question is regarding euthanasia.  We euthanize our beloved animals as an act of compassion  yet we won’t extend the same compassion to people.  What about all the people that have died by their own hands as a desperate act of self-euthanasia when life has become unbearable or impossible. We think it’s cruel to let an animal suffer like this, and yet we expect people to suffer like this, often bankrupting families and we tend to condemn those who choose not to suffer and choose to end their life instead.  And what about someone like Dr. Kevorkian that (I believe) compassionately helped people die. I’m really curious to know if you’ve ever gotten anything about this type of situation?

MY RESPONSE: 

   You bring up a very important point about euthanasia that I've talked about before many times with my partner. It certainly does seem cruel that humans don't give the same care to each other as we try to give to pets at the end of their lives during times of severe suffering. This is something I've recently struggled to understand.
    I believe that line of thought against euthanizing people originated with some religions that said that "pets don't have souls and humans do" - which we know to be false. In addition some religions have looked at euthanasia as "murder" instead of humane treatment of people. As a result, we are sadly not able to treat people in a humane way at the end of their lives to end their suffering.

What about people?

   My mother died this past December. She had a stroke and was suffering horrendously, and I had to make the choice with my brothers to remove her from life support - so she would not live paralyzed and in a vegetative state- so your question strongly resonates with me. I do know that my mother suffered in that week it took for her to pass after her debilitating stroke.
  Perhaps as people realize we need to focus more on the humane treatment of others over doctrine, we will be able to assist our loved ones cross over at the end of their lives and shorten their suffering.
  In July, 2013, when we had to make the decision for our 16 1/2 year old dog Sprite, who could barely use his back legs, had kidney failure, strong heart murmur, was going blind and deaf before something ruptured in his nose causing bleeding for hours (I took him to the emergency vet and they said it was likely a tumor in the sinuses, not a broken blood vessel)- and we made the choice the next day, because he was suffering so much.  We didn't want to see him suffer any further - and yes, it was heartwrenching.

SOME PLACES IT IS LEGAL - After responding to this question, I learned that the Netherlands and Belgium, and states like Oregon, have legalized euthanasia. 

   WHERE DID THE WORD COME FROM? - The word "euthanasia" was first used in a medical context by Francis Bacon in the 17th century, to refer to an easy, painless, happy death, during which it was a "physician's responsibility to alleviate the 'physical sufferings' of the body." 

  WHERE WAS THE CONCEPT FIRST MENTIONED IN HISTORY? - The first apparent usage of the term "euthanasia" belongs to the historian Suetonius who described how the Emperor Augustus, "dying quickly and without suffering in the arms of his wife, Livia, experienced the 'euthanasia' he had wished for." (Ref.   Philippe Letellier, chapter: History and definition of a Word, in Euthanasia: Ethical and human aspects By Council of Europe)