Death

There are times in everyone’s lives when they must make very difficult decisions regarding not only their own lives but the lives of people around them, these decisions are often very controversial and take rational reasoning to decided what is the best moral decision. With today’s modern medicine it is now possible to preserve life although it is usually done by making the person unconscious for extended periods of time, possibly until their death. By making someone unconscious you are taking their life into your hands and hopefully treating them in a way that you would wish to be treated if in their situation. This medicine can do wonders when preserving life, but do we want to make someone unable to make their own decisions when it is regarding their own life and death? Kant and Mill both believe that the choice of life is with the beholder of that life, meaning if someone is on their death bed, they ought to know what they are facing.
Kant believes that one must do what they ought to do which in this case is telling the person that they are terminally ill. He believes that we must treat ourselves as ends and never means, which means that we are in control of our own lives and should be able to make all of our own decisions, and make them rationally. This means that a person should not be given powerful opiates until they have been told their position and have given consent to live their life in that state. Kant also believes that every event has a cause and every cause is predictable in principle. If you are terminally ill there is a cause behind it, even if that cause if not clear at the present time, it will make sense in the long run and is part of your place here on earth.
Mill believes that “the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.” By this Mill means that no one has power over someone else’s life unless they are going to harm someone else in the society. By becoming terminally ill and having only a few months to live, it is not harming anyone else’s well being and therefore they have to right to decided what they wish to do with the remainder of their life and that their life is going to end. By making someone unconscious you are taking away their free will and Mill believes that that is acting immorally and is wrong.
Death, even though one of the only certain things that we have in life, is a difficult subject to deal with. People are very afraid of death, both of their own and that of other people, this is why we chose to put terminally ill people on powerful opiates and life support even when we know that they are only going to last for a short time and will be in a complete vegetable like state until that time comes. There are several factors when considering what the right path to take is when dealing with a terminally ill individual. First, it is important to read their will and see what they wish for themselves in these types of situations, many people do not want to be kept on life support for extended amounts of time when they are left completely unconscious and it is important to follow through with their wishes. Second, family should be taken into consideration; if they have young children or other dependents then they should be taken off of opiates so that they are able to choose what they want for the remainder of their time still here on earth. From my own beliefs, a person is the only one that should be in control of their life. Actions to try and preserve life should always be taken, especially in a case of a very sudden illness, but it is not right to keep someone in an unconscious state until their death without notifying them of the inevitable. A person should be taken off of the opiates and told what the circumstances are, no matter how hard it might be to do. I believe this to be the right thing to do because not only do people have the right to know what is happening in their life and the medication that they are being given, but they have the right to live their life, even if only for the last couple of months in pain but still conscious if they so choose to do so. If I were in this situation and was going to lose my life, I would like to be aware of my condition and be able to make my own conscious decision regarding the rest of my life and say good bye to family and friends. If it were possible to inform the individual while still on the opiates I believe that it is a viable way to inform them, however, they must be able to completely comprehend the situation and give a clear cut answer to the diagnosis and their wishes which is probably not a realistic situation.
Life brings upon some very difficult decisions that often do not have clear cut and definitive answers, but these decisions should be made by the person having to experience that illness and not a doctor or family member without conscious consent. This idea is seen not only by myself, but by both Kant and Mill.