INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Today, the topic euthanasia is facing a lot ethical issues; even the mention of the word euthanasia will most likely draw reactions from most people, like abortion, capital punishment, and other issues related to the beginning or end of human life. Although it is often assumed that the modern-day perspective of euthanasia differ from those throughout history, it would seem that the concept of euthanasia has always been the subject of debate (McDougall and Gorman, 2008). The New Oxford Dictionary of English defines ‘euthanasia’ as ‘the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma’. ‘Euthanasia’ comes from two Greek words, ‘eu-’, a prefix meaning ‘good’ or ‘well’, and ‘thanatos’, meaning ‘death’. Literally speaking, when someone undergoes euthanasia, their death is good. Normally, for death to be good, living would need to be worse than death (Lacewing, n.d). There are six types of euthanasia, namely: involuntary, non-voluntary and voluntary, these types of euthanasia can either be passive or active euthanasia. The differences
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However, this interchanging use of these terms is strictly not appropriate. While it is acknowledged that there may be no morally significant difference between assisted suicide and voluntary, active euthanasia, there is nevertheless a qualitative difference between them. According to Brock (1993), with assisted suicide, a qualified medical practitioner supplies the patient with means for taking his own life, unlike in the case of voluntary active euthanasia; it is the patient and not the doctor, who acts last. To put it simply, in the case of voluntary, active euthanasia it is the qualified medical practitioner who kills the patient, whereas in the case of assisted suicide it is the patient who kills his or her self (Johnstone,
Physician assisted suicide is when a physician provides the means required to commit suicide, including prescribing lethal amounts of harmful drugs to a patient. In the United States alone, there is great controversy about physician assisted suicide. The issue is whether physician assisted suicide is murder or an act of sympathy for the patient. The main point is that terminally ill patients should have a right to physician assisted suicide if it meets their needs and is done properly. Physician assisted suicide is an appropriate action for the terminally ill that want to end their life in peace before it ends at the hands of the terminal disease.
When you hear the word death or you hear that someone has died today in the news or on the television I know a lot of people think “Man, I feel sorry for the family that they have to go through that.” or they thank god that it was not them or their family members.” Sadly though people try to push away death and push away the fact that everyone dies at one point in time. This is even truer when they witness their own family member in the hospital with a critical condition that the doctors cannot fix even with modern medicines on the doctor’s side. Another such time would be when a person’s family member is diagnosed with an incurable sickness that is fatal.
Active euthanasia is killing a patient who requests to die. For example, a patient with a terminal illness may wish to end their battle. To fulfill these wishes the physician may administer a lethal injection. Except in special circumstances, it is illegal to deliberately cause the death of another person. I contend that life is a gift from God and he has the ultimate power to decide when to take this privilege away.
The difference between these two methods is that with euthanasia the physician actively administers a lethal dose of medicine to the patient, usually a sedative or pain killers. Physician assisted death is where the patient is given the dose to take with them and self-administer at a time they feel to be appropriate, usually when family is able to be present. Being taken off of life saving treatment or denied food or liquids, is considered to be passive euthanasia. No one is administering anything lethal to the patient, they are simply allowed to die through denial of
Assisted suicide is a rather controversial issue in contemporary society. When a terminally ill patient formally requests to be euthanized by a board certified physician, an ethical dilemma arises. Can someone ethically end the life of another human being, even if the patient will die in less than six months? Unlike traditional suicide, euthanasia included multiple individuals including the patient, doctor, and witnesses, where each party involved has a set of legal responsibilities. In order to understand this quandary and eventually reach a conclusion, each party involved must have their responsibilities analyzed and the underlying guidelines of moral ethics must be investigated.
Suicide, Euthanasia, and Assisted Suicide The differences between suicide, euthanasia,
A controversial practice that invokes a debate over how beneficial its intentions are is the use of euthanasia. The argument switches between whether or not putting terminally ill patients to death with the assistance of a physician is justifiable and right. Legalizing the practice of euthanasia is a significant topic among many people in society, including doctors and nurses in the medical field, as it forces people to decide where to draw the line between relieving pain and simply killing. While some people see euthanasia as a way to helping a patient by eliminating their pain, it is completely rejected by others who see it as a method of killing.
Euthanasia, also known as assisted suicide, is the act of permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured patients. This is never suggested by the caretaker rather than requested by the patient or their family. Few areas such as the Netherlands have already legalized this practice. This debate, as split as a fork in the road, is over whether or not this approach should be legalized worldwide on stances regarding religion, ethics, and self choice. I see this as being extremely unethical on both religious and social morality levels.
Tulloch Gail from Edinburgh University Press said that Euthanasia can be categorized in two respects. First, if patients have requests for medical help injection for themselves, it is called Voluntary Euthanasia and did not a request from patients, it called Involuntary Euthanasia. Second, if the doctor injected into the patient died, it is called Active Euthanasia but if the doctor lets the patient died by themselves, it is called Passive Euthanasia (2005). However, Euthanasia is also illegal in some countries.
Euthanasia can be interpreted in different ways depending on the person/point of view. Euthanasia is another word for mercy-killing, those who are in great pain and their treatments show no sign of progress can choose euthanasia as an option to die mercifully and with dignity. When a person goes through euthanasia, they consume a euthanasia solution through a vein or by drinking it. Then, they rest as the solution kills them. There have been many controversies on whether euthanasia should be legalized.
Voluntary euthanasia defined as a person makes a request to be helped to end the life, and the competence of the patient requesting assistance with dying (“Voluntary euthanasia”, 1996). The cases included the person refusing burdensome medical treatment, refusing to eat, simply deciding to end his or her life and asking the medical treatment to be ended or switch off life support machines (“Ethics guide”, 2007). Non-voluntary euthanasia defined as a person who is unable and has not, at the time to express a view on ending the life (“Non-voluntary euthanasia”, 1996). The cases included the person is in a coma; too young, senile, has severe brain damaged, mentally retarded, and mentally disturbed (“Ethics guide”, 2007). According to Biswas and
Euthanasia is usually used to refer to active euthanasia, and in this sense, euthanasia is usually considered to be criminal homicide, but voluntary, passive euthanasia is widely non-criminal. Voluntary Euthanasia is conducted with the consent of the patient while Involuntary Euthanasia is conducted against the will of the patient. Beginning with the philosophical aspects of euthanasia we must first understand the importance of the sanctity of life. Human life is sacred because God made humankind in His own image, and that each individual human
INTRODUCTION Euthanasia alludes to the act of deliberately close a life keeping in mind the end goal to assuage torment and enduring. There are different euthanasia laws in each country. The British House of Lords Select Committee on Medical Ethics defines euthanasia as "a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering".[1] In the Netherlands, euthanasia is understood as "termination of life by a doctor at the request of a patient"". Euthanasia is sorted in diverse ways, which incorporate voluntary, non-voluntary, or automatic.
Voluntary euthanasia comes from the consent of the patient themselves or from someone who is legalized to do so, for example a family member. On the contrary, involuntary is when no consent is given by the patient. The procedural classification of euthanasia is divided into passive and active euthanasia. Passive euthanasia would include retracting prescription of treatments which is life sustaining or termination of ineffective treatment due to the severity or incurability of the patient’s condition. On the other hand, active euthanasia is the act of inserting lethal substances into the individual’s body to end his/her life.
Euthanasia is the end of a person that was suffering from an illness or a traumatic accident in the past that has affected them and changed them to a different person. Most of these people find them self to believe they are a nuisance to others such as family members or some care givers. Euthanasia is the process of end a live of someone in great suffering to relive the pain of whatever caused it in the first place. Euthanasia is one of the most controversial topics because of religious purposes or the choice of choosing a sooner death. Euthanasia is legal in very limited parts of the world.