**TL;DR – Although there are certainly many, many caveats, voluntary, informed euthanasia should be a basic human right.** It is a, if not _the_, basic ethical principle to prevent human suffering. In many cases, euthanasia is the primary mode of doing so. Autonomy is also held as one of life's most important qualities; the right to die with dignity and under one's own, chosen circumstances soundly fits into autonomy and thus must be protected. It is a blatant violation of this principle to force someone to continue living based on others' desires (however strong), particularly when they are undergoing immense suffering due to, for example, terminal illness or unmitigatable depression. In the case of terminal illness, it is not a case of _if_ an individual will die an untimely death but _when_. Avoiding euthanasia does not avoid death, but it may allow the end stages of one's life to be (significantly) more painful and unnecessarily prolongued. Furthermore, euthanasia is, in essense, just a more humane, safe form of suicide, which around 800,000 people die from each year—"safe" is an odd term here, but contextually it must mean free from complications or undue pain, two very common occurences within suicide and suicide attempts. Creating a medical, legitimate route would not only avoid the complications of self-inflicted, amateur suicide, but could, actually, create an atmosphere where individuals who _wanted_ to commit suicide would receive essential services as a prerequisite. The legalized path may add a sort of _checks and balances_ system which individuals are not able to enact on their own, without help.

**TL;DR: We put our pets down, why don’t we give people the same dignity?** Most arguments against the practice of euthanasia are built upon principles of morality. Some believe that it is wrong to [play God](http://blogs.hsc.edu/sciencejournal/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2013/03/Ferrante2.pdf) by purposefully ending life, and others worry about the potential for a [slippery slope](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11019-018-9864-8), where the vulnerable are taken advantage of and euthanised without their true consent. However, we contradict these ethics when it comes to our pets. In the case of animals, most people agree that it is actually a [kindness](https://www.peta.org/issues/animal-companion-issues/animal-companion-factsheets/euthanasia-compassionate-option/) to euthanise the sick and uncurable, in order to end their suffering. We accept that putting down an ill dog is the right thing to do, even though the dog cannot give its consent to die. It seems unfair to prevent human beings from actively choosing a humane assisted death when we allow dogs and cats this dignity all the time.