Euthanasia Essay: Eugenics To Euthanasia :: Free Euthanasia Essay

Eugenics To Euthanasia      Ã‚   This essay presents the appeal which euthanasia has to modern society. What is this appeal based on? Is it a valid appeal? These and other questions are addressed in this paper.    See if this story sounds familiar: A happily married couple - she is a pianist; he a rising scientist - have their love suddenly tested by a decline in the wife's health. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, she falls victim to a steady loss of muscle control and paralysis. The desperate husband uses all his professional skills to save her. But ultimately he must watch her deteriorate in hideous pain. The wife worries that she will soon no longer be "a person anymore - just a lump of flesh - and a torture" for her husband. She begs her husband to kill her before that happens. And eventually, worn down, the reluctant husband releases his wife from her misery with poison.    The husband is indicted for murder. But the understanding judge and jury soon agree that, given the circumstances, the husband is not a killer, and the law needs to be reformed. Meanwhile, in impassioned public comments, the husband attacks "the proponents of outmoded beliefs and antiquated laws" who inflict unnecessary anguish on the terminally ill, "who suffer without hope and whose death would be deliverance for them."    The story fits comfortably with today's medical headlines. It could easily be a 20/20 segment or a page from Jack Kevorkian's latest trial. But it comes from another era. Produced in 1941, it's the plot line of I Accuse, one of the Third Reich's most effective propaganda films. I Accuse was created for one reason only: to advance the Nazi campaign of euthanasia for the mentally and physically handicapped, "antisocial elements," and the terminally ill. And it worked. It was a big box-office success. It's also the classic example of how compassion can be manipulated to justify mass killing - first in the name of mercy, then in the name of cost and utility.    Obviously, America today is not Germany in 1941. Americans have a practical sense of justice that favors the weak and the little guy. But if we want to keep it that way, we shouldn't assume that merely knowing about a past tragedy prevents us from repeating it. We need to learn from history. And