Commentary on Janelle's "Proposal of Death"

In Janelle’s “Proposal of Death”, she addresses the ethical dilemma of the practice, or lack thereof, of euthanasia in the United States. She holds firm to the idea that it’s immoral that we don’t allow it. In support of this notion, she proposed that “…the government should develop a special board that is geared towards the legalization and regulation of euthanasia, with focus groups working on different aspects of the regulations that will eventually be implemented into the use of euthanasia as a means of ‘final treatment’.” To me, this is a logical and concise proposal for the heated debate on euthanasia.

If a skeptic has an argument against this proposal, she backs her argument with enough evidence to possibly sway them. She uses the facts presented by how well the legalization of euthanasia has worked in the Netherlands. She states that they have several “important regulations that I believe would be essential to helping euthanasia’s legalization in the US.” She goes on to quote specific examples that would take care of any pertinent questions that would be brought up by a skeptic.

The opposition might ask that it may be “difficult to deal with those who want to implement euthanasia for selfish reasons, or pressurize venerable patients into dying (BBC Pro-Euthanasia Arguments).” In rebuttal, Janelle strongly states: “But if the proper regulations are made, these situations could be avoided.” I feel she could elaborate here to make her case a little stronger; such as what those regulations are in detail to counter this argument.

Janelle’s usage of the resemblance proposal with the case of the Netherlands works well overall in this essay. She could elaborate a bit more about the exact details of the regulations and such. And the main criticism I have would be to drop the part that introduces the subject of euthanasia again, because the ethical argument paper already did that. In addition, is she puts more emotion into the subject of Lillian Boyes, this could dramatically improve her chances of swaying a skeptic into believing this is an ethical right of the suffering patient. Painting a graphic picture of her death could prove very beneficial. This paper has a direct proposal that makes sense to me and with a little more detail added to it, will be an effective argument to legalize euthanasia. I have always agreed with the legalization of it here in the states and this proposal seems the fairest and most logical within the hands of our government.