Introduction
To speak of euthanasia is to speak of a very delicate and pervasive matter in every society, it implies treating an issue that has generated great ethical conflicts in all areas of ancient as well as contemporary societies. Each individual or society imposes its own ideas in the face of circumstances, however it is necessary and urgent to cultivate the practical culture of empathy, of putting yourself in the place of the other or of the others and, stop being selfish.
Euthanasia and empathy
The "dignified death" or "good death" alluded to by the Greek voices "eu": good and "thanatos": death, has been present since very ancient times throughout the world. It is not surprising that the exemplary Greek democratic society was one of the first societies to use this type of philosophy in the application of such a personal cause - in the case of those people who making use of their right to a dignified death thus requested his renunciation of life-, as a social one, from a perspective of the perfection of that surprising warrior society.
Currently, one of the countries that draws attention of society to the full extent of the globe is the Netherlands, where it already existed some years ago a kind of regulation that absolved of punishment physicians who will practice euthanasiaat the request of the patient, and that today, he is proposing a case of legitimate legalization of the “euthanasia requested” - limited to cases of serious and irreversible illness, accompanied by suffering and on condition that this situation is submitted to medical verification that is presented as rigorous-. The foundation of said procedure or justification of it is based on two fundamental ideas: the principle of autonomy of the subject, who has the right to dispose, in an absolute way, of his own life; and the evidence or explicit conviction of the unbearable pain that tends to generate the desire for death.
In our country, it has been and continues to be a topic of debate in which each group of society, say the family, the church, social clubs, the local or federal Congress, civil associations, among others, show their approval or Generally, its rejection, under the arguments that in its opinion obey. However, it is largely due, first of all, to the dominance exercised by religious institutions in the formation of values, based on the Holy Scriptures regarding the origin of life, who attribute it to God and as a consequence, also attribute it exclusively to He is deprived of it; and secondly, because they are not able to understand the magnitude of such misfortune by not knowing themselves in the same condition, by not feeling despair and discouragement,by not living in their own flesh the tearing pains of the terminally ill; in short, a lack of empathy.
According to the Larousse Illustrated encyclopedic dictionary, empathy is defined as the "ability to identify with another group or person, to put yourself in their place and perceive what they feel"; According to the free encyclopedia Wikipedia, empathy (from the ancient Greek word εμπαθεια, formed εν, 'inside', and πάθoς, 'suffering, what is suffered'), also called interpersonal intelligence in the theory of multiple intelligences of Howard Gardner, is the cognitive ability to perceive in a common context what another individual can feel.
It is also a feeling of affective participation of one person in reality that affects another. Why then do we not practice that value in reality or why when we do we only talk about what we should do? Because we are hypocrites trying to teach others - or children - what we do not do ourselves. It is worth using empathy in not so important cases, but we are useless in truly serious cases. This is only a clear demonstration of the relativity of religious values to the variables of the circumstances. We only use it as a speech to look good to others, we put that value into practice when we talk about what we or other people should do. They are only ideals, but they do not constitute realities.
Is it that we are so selfish and wicked, infamous, vile, wicked, - and every word that alludes to evil - as to pretend that the hopeless and complaining terminally ill whose illness has him literally waiting for death, lying on a hospital bed –Or in a bed in your home-, enduring indescribable pains does not deserve to satisfy your last will? What should you do - if you are not even in a position to do anything - to make your voice count and be taken into account? Is it not enough to see his condition to understand his need to free himself at all costs from his sufferings? It seems that this selfish, unhealthy approach is worth and weighs more, since finally, a patient destined for death, is forced to spend his last moments in the worst way that one can imagine,He is punished with suffering and death as a condemned from the time of the inquisition, but without having committed any crime, this is how religious values currently lead society to act.
Experience - understood as a way of living in one's own flesh, certain situations - teaches us, and only it is capable of modifying all our ideas, thoughts, knowledge…; our attitudes change and, consequently, our value systems are also restructured; the way of facing situations from a different perspective is a consequence of having learned the lesson, but… can one really experience the suffering of the other?Is it possible that someone, familiar or foreign to the family, is able to feel at least a little bit of the real suffering of the dejected evictee? I do not think so. It is that this is not one of those common lessons that we can reproduce such as, spoiling a dessert for not following the steps of the recipe to the letter or, receiving a punishment for disobeying our parents or, stumbling and falling not seeing the obstacle. This is a special lesson that only the patient in question can feel, live and, what a disgrace !, learn, and then die suffering. If the next step is, irreversibly death, you will not be able to sit down afterwards to converse with anyone to say the phrase “I learned the lesson”.
The lucky ones who are not in that condition, couple, children, siblings, friends,… we can say that we suffer, but it is not because of the patient's pain, but rather because of impotence and everything else that is obligatory or not. drift - patience, special care, neglect of school or work, useless medical expenses, etc-.
The true feeling of the evicted person can never be equated with what we who can enjoy complete health can minimally feel. Until then, until we have to be in his place, we will be able to understand what is thought, what is desired, what is felt: wanting to hasten death.
How many deaths are not caused at every moment throughout the world by fights, assaults, drug addiction, organized crime, medical negligence, etc., and the culprits are not punished or, if they receive punishment, do they suffer so much? If the death penalty assigned to the great qualified criminals, in a country like the United States of America, does not make them suffer so much, since their agony does not last long sessions, hours, much less days, why make a poor person suffer and sick christian? Why torture him so much? I don't see the reason.
conclusion
In our country a law is urgent that allows the practice of euthanasia, as long as it is limited to a terminal illness accompanied by intense and excruciating pain, medically qualified as such. For this, it will be necessary to understand that the patient is capable of deciding on himself, in as much his intimate position and not from our personal or social moral perspective; it is essential to judge things from the look, think and feel of the other, before putting the sovereign selfish personal interests first, because the only way left for them is to decide if they are willing to endure suffering and their irremediable destiny or accelerate the step because in any case everything is useless. Simply put, suffer a terribly painful death or simply die suffering less.
Bibliography
• Gutiérrez Sáenz, Raúl, Introduction to Ethics, Mexico, 2009, Editorial: Esfinge. 8th edition.
• The Little Illustrated Larousse, 2008 encyclopedic dictionary.
• The Holy Scriptures (The Bible)
• http://www.proyectosalonhogar.com/Diversos_Temas/Empatia.htm
• https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empat%C3 % ADa
• http://www.franciscanos.org/docecle/eutanasia.htm
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