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The issue that I chose to discuss in this paper is euthanasia. I am going to concentrate on the legal aspect of this issue in contemporary America as well as discuss two different types of the euthanasia. The word euthanasia is derived from the Greek words eu, meaning "good", and thanatos, meaning "death." In today's contexts, the word came to describe an intentional termination of patient's life to end his or her suffering. This topic has sparked a great controversy. The basic question posed by euthanasia is should a person who is terminally ill, who feels that his or her life is not worth living because of the unbearable pain, loss of dignity and capability to maintain his or her normal way of life, be given assistance in dying by his or her doctors. The issue today is should this "mercy killings" be legalized or should euthanasia be banned. There are two different types of euthanasia: active and passive. Passive euthanasia involves withholding medical treatment from a patient whose chances for surviving are nonexistent. This method mostly applies to a patient who is living of a machine. In order to stop the person's suffering the family decides to remove life support equipment. Another example that would be considered to be passive euthanasia is stopping medications. In other words passive euthanasia allows nature to take its course. This is the most popular form of euthanasia because it is legal. Active euthanasia involves a more direct and controversial actions by the doctors. It involves actions such as administering lethal injection, in response to a request from the patient to end his life. The most well known doctor who practiced active euthanasia was Dr. Kevorkian who assisted in about 130 euthanasia deaths.... ... middle of paper ... ...bortion, if it is illegal it can't be regulated and this actually leaves more room for abuse. If we legalize euthanasia, we can regulate the doctors, which in turn would benefit the patients. I predict that euthanasia will be legalized in the United States. I believe that the first step, which is usually the hardest one to make, already took place in the state of Oregon. I think it will serve as an example that euthanasia could be regulated and it will put many minds to rest. Bibliography 1) Keown, John. "Euthanasia Examined". 1995. Cambridge University Press. 2) Mchugh, James. "Death, Dying, and the Law". 1976. Huntington. 3) James, Rachel. "The End of Life: the Morality of Euthanasia". 1986. Oxford University Press. 4) http://www.ortl.org/pas_in_oregon/pas_experience_3.html
In this essay, I will discuss whether euthanasia is morally permissible or not. Euthanasia is the intention of ending life due to inevitable pain and suffering. The word euthanasia comes from the Greek words “eu,” which means good, and “thanatosis, which means death. There are two types of euthanasia, active and passive. Active euthanasia is when medical professionals deliberately do something that causes the patient to die, such as giving lethal injections. Passive euthanasia is when a patient dies because the medical professionals do not do anything to keep them alive or they stop doing something that was keeping them alive. Some pros of euthanasia is the freedom to decide your destiny, ending the pain, and to die with dignity. Some cons
There are two types of euthanasia: passive and active. Passive or voluntary euthanasia refers to withholding life saving treatments or medical technology to prolong life. For example, a patient has the right to refuse medical treatment. They also have the right to refuse resuscitation if they are in need to be placed on life support. Active or involuntary euthanasia refers to providing the means for someone to take their life or assisting with taking their life (“Euthanasia” Discovering).
...ncurable diseases or accidents like Dax Cowart where the person’s life after would never be the same or could never be what the individual imagined their life to be, patients should have the option to die a painless way. . The United States of America is becoming more accepting of this alternative to painful treatments that patients in this state would receive. With the removal of “The Appropriate Ends” area from the Hippocratic oath, it is clear that the U.S. is making a big push toward legalizing euthanasia. Legalizing euthanasia will open another opportunity for suffering patients, because regardless of whether or not euthanasia is an option, suicidal patients will find a way to die and many times this is more brutal and painful than euthanasia. With the hoippocratic oath taking a more modern view on healthcare, euthanasia is becoming a morally right thing to do.
* Passive, indirect or negative euthanasia: ambiguous. Can be the decision by patient, parent or guardian and physician to withhold or withdraw extraordinary means of sustaining or prolonging life, such as deciding against high-risk surgery for a patient dying of cancer or kidney failure. When the intent is not to cause death but rather to reject extraordinary treatment, this results in the acceptance of death or continued life, whichever occurs, but it is not true euthanasia. The terms "passive," "indirect" or "negative euthanasia" should not be used since they play into the hands of euthanasia advocates by confusing legitimate actions with euthanasia, thereby desensitizing people to the fact that euthanasia is killing. More importantly, passive euthanasia is sometimes defined by others as the withholding of lifesaving treatment with the intention and result of causing the patient's death. This is the equivalent to active, direct euthanasia.
Euthanasia is defined as the act of killing someone who is terminally ill or those who are seriously injured in a reasonably painless way for reasons of compassion (Diaconescu). There are two types of administering euthanasia, which are Active and Passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is when the medical professionals or another person intentionally does something that causes the patient to die. An example of active euthanasia is killing a patient using lethal injection. Passive euthanasia is when the patient dies because the medical professionals don't do or stops doing something to extend the patient’s life or when they stop doing something that is keeping the patient alive. An example of passive euthanasia are turning off life support machines, disconnecting fe...
There are two main types of euthanasia- passive and active. Although both are illegal in all states but Oregon, passive euthanasia is easier for people to accept. Passive involves taking a person off of their life support, and letting them die naturally, while active is ending a suffering persons life prematurely, by helping them die, with an overdose of medication (A Euthanasia Glossary). Although Euthanasia is not widely accepted, nor legal, there are people who try to break the rules.
There are two different classifications of euthanasia. There is voluntary and involuntary euthanasia. Voluntary euthanasia is simply euthanasia conducted with consent, whereas involuntary euthanasia is euthanasia conducted without consent. This is a fairly straightforward point, right? Well, it gets more complex. There are also two different procedural classifications of euthanasia. They are active and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is when lethal substances or measures are taken to end a patient’s life. The other procedural classification, passive euthanasia, is the withholding of life-sustaining treatments. Some people feel as if the definition of passive euthanasia is debatable.
Also known as Physician Assisted Suicide, euthanasia generally involves a patient who is terminally ill and wishes to die. They seek the help of a doctor to fulfill this wish. The dictionary definition of euthanasia is “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (such as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy.” Euthanasia is a Greek word that means “good death” (Santosh). It is legal in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and in Belgium (Anif). Some states in the United States do not view euthanasia as a crime under the legal code but it is not openly viewed as legal either. There are many forms of euthanasia which include active, passive, involuntary and voluntary. Voluntary euthanasia is when a competent person makes a voluntary request to be helped to die. Involuntary is when they do not give consent or they do not have knowledge of it. Active euthanasia is ending a person’s life by the use of drugs whether it is by oneself or with the help of a doctor. Lastly, passive euthanasia is when necessary or ordinary action that maintains life is withheld. This can be done by discontinuing feeding tubes and withholding water, drugs or medical care (Preston).
One area of moral dilemma that requires our attention is regarding euthanasia. Euthanasia is the practice of ending life in order to relieve pain or suffering caused by a terminal illness. Euthanasia can further be divided into two subcategories active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is the process of deliberately causing a person’s death. In passive euthanasia a person does not take any action and just allows the person to die. In many countries, the thought of euthanasia is morally detestable. However, many doctors find nothing wrong with allowing a terminally ill patient to decide to refuse medication. This decision is a form of passive euthanasia the doctor did not actively cause the patient’s death, but he did nothing to prevent the patient’s death. Failing to act and directly acting is not the same as not being responsible for the consequences of an event.
The voluntary active euthanasia is legitimately moral. It is morally right for a person to seek euthanasia because it is their freedom or autonomy to control their own lives. It ends the suffering of the patient without harming other people. Furthermore, it prevents the person to suffer by giving him/her lethal injection or medication that prevents a person to die slowly with pain. On the other hand, the arguments against euthanasia are not sound. A thorough assessment will protect patient who request euthanasia for the benefits of others. A patient who seek for euthanasia does not use him/herself as means, but as ends to respect his/her own humanity. Furthermore, God as a benevolent will not allow a person to suffer which endorse the purpose of euthanasia – to end suffering. Therefore, voluntary active euthanasia should be legalized in the United States.
Euthanasia is a word whose roots can be traced back to Greece where it meant good death. It encompasses various dimensions, from active where something is introduced to cause death, to passive where treatment or supportive actions are withheld. It also varies from voluntary euthanasia where one consents to it, to involuntary where a guardian can give consent and doctor assisted in which the doctors prescribes the medication and a third party or patient administers the prescription to cause death. Wishes for premature death have significantly contributed to the long debate regarding the role of this practice in the current health care. The debate however cuts across dynamic and complex aspects like ethical, legal, health, human rights, economic, religious, social, spiritual and cultural aspects of the enlightened society (Math & Chaturvedi, p. 889). Here, this intricate issue is argued from both sides of the ongoing debate and also the plight of the caregivers and the victims.
Euthanasia, as defined by the Encarta Encyclopedia, is the “practice of mercifully ending a person’s life in order to release the person from incurable disease, intolerable suffering, or undignified death” (Encarta, 2004). Euthanasia is a Greek word, which means “good death.” As humans, we understand death is something we cannot avoid but having some control over death is empowering and reassuring to us. If someone is suffering from a terminal illness, intolerable pain, or in a long-term coma, euthanasia is an acceptable option for someone to end his or her life. With the consent of their doctor(s) these people should be able to have the law on their side supporting their decisions.
Before defining and discussing the three major categories of euthanasia, it is important to understand the meaning of their subtypes known as active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is performing a direct action to take someone’s life, such as administering a lethal drug to a patient. Passive euthanasia is allowing someone to die by not performing some life-sustaining action or ending life-sustaining treatment (Pojman). Examples of passive euthanasia would be removing a patient’s respirator or withholding nutrients and fluids. Active euthanasia is easily the more controversial of the two.
The different types of Euthanasia are active or passive euthanasia and voluntary or involuntary euthanasia. Passive Euthanasia generally refers to the ending of a persons life by removing the person from a life-sustaining machine, such as a respirator. This form of euthanasia is endorsed by the American Medical Association and is less controversial than active euthanasia. Active euthanasia refers to ending a persons life by a competent medical authority giving the person a lethal injection of a muscle relaxant or pain killer medication. The terms voluntary or involuntary refer to whether or not a patient requests euthanasia or whether the patient is not able to make such a request and euthanasia is carried out by a competent medical authority at the request of another family member, or by a competent medical authority’s decision. Involuntary euthanasia usually occurs when a patient is comatose.
Lastly, I support the idea of legalizing euthanasia because the patients own their bodies, and they can do anything with it. Even though the doctor is the one who put the patient to death in a process of euthanasia, the patient is the one who makes the decision to be “killed”, and therefore, euthanasia is a type of physician-assisted suicide, which is not any of other people business.