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Ethical dilemma about euthanasia
Ethical dilemma about euthanasia
Ethical dilemma about euthanasia
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Everyone has experienced a moment where the pressure is just too much, the pain is too unbearable or nothing ever seems right. It is life, life contains hacks, trails and obstacles. It would not be life without it, the same concept goes for medical issues. J. Gay- Williams addresses the reasons euthanasia should not be an option to be legal in his essay. He justifies his reason for his position with the fact that illnesses are a part of life. Williams position of disregarding euthanasia is rational because a life is a valuable thing to waste or gamble with.
J. Gay-Williams, author of the essay "The Wrongfulness of Euthanasia" defines Euthanasia as. "intentionally taking the life of a presumably hopeless person. Whether the life is one's own or that of another, the taking of it is still Euthanasia." (704) Williams elaborates on the classification of Euthanasia by explaining its different concept. For example, death resulting in a terminally ill patient receiving the wrong dose of medicine. Is not considered Euthanasia. Also if a patient receives a treatment that the doctors believe will improve their condition. But instead causes the patient to die, this is also not an act of Euthanasia because the intention is to make the patient better. Williams explains in his essay that omission of treatment. That can potentially continue the life of a dying patient is passive euthanasia because:
"This phrase is misleading and mistaken. In such cases, the person involved is not killed(the first essential aspect of euthanasia), not is the death of the on intended by the withholding of extra treatment (the third essential aspect of euthanasia). The aim may be to spare the person more and unjustifiable pain, to save him from the indignities of ...
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...age of Euthanasia. The quality of health care will decline. Physicians will not try as hard to save their patients lives because their would be an easy way out. Those unfortunate patients that receive misdiagnosis would end their lives for no reason. Finally in a moral aspect, life is a precious gift and everyone has a purpose. Taking away someone's purpose unnecessarily would be cruel and selfish.
There is truly no satisfying benefit to implementing Euthanasia. If it becomes legal people's lives would end sooner than it needs to be and sometimes unnecessarily. If Euthanasia is not legalized, many people with justified reasons for ending their lives will continue to suffer and be unhappy by staying alive. Regardlessly, Williams point to not legalize Euthanasia is valid. Mainly because the enforcement of Euthanasia pose a greater treat than the absence of Euthanasia.
Euthanasia is a serious political, moral and ethics issues in society. People either strictly forbid or firmly favor euthanasia. Terminally ill patients have a fatal disease from which they will never recover, many will never sleep in their own bed again. Many beg health professionals to “pull the plug” or smother them with a pillow so that they do not have to bear the pain of their disease so that they will die faster. Thomas D. Sullivan and James Rachels have very different views on the permissibility of active and passive euthanasia. Sullivan believes that it is impermissible for the doctor, or anyone else to terminate the life of a patient but, that it is permissible in some cases to cease the employment of “extraordinary means” of preserving
Euthanasia comes from the Greek word that means “good death” (“Euthanasia” literally). In general, euthanasia refers to causing the death of someone to end their pain and suffering, oftentimes in cases of terminal illness. Some people call these “mercy killings”. 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.
As the years go by our society advances in all fields. As a result, we as a society have come to question many elements in our lives by comparing them to longstanding morals and traditions. The medical fields has always, and probably will always, raise many controversial issues. The latest concerns whether euthanasia or physician assisted suicide should be universally legalized in the U.S. Those opposed see that there are other alternatives other than taking a person’s own life, with the help of a doctor. Not only are they essential to incorporate into the options for people experiencing terminal illnesses, legalization would allow an overall upgrade in combating abuse with this treatment, at the same time, people are thoroughly against the
“Thomas More, in describing a utopian community, envisaged such a community as one that would facilitate the death of those whose lives had become burdensome as a result of ‘torturing and lingering pain’” (Voluntary Euthanasia). Euthanasia is an act that would be used to relieve suffering patients. Before one can argue for or against the legalization of euthanasia, he must understand the difference between the different types of euthanasia: active versus passive, voluntary versus non-voluntary and involuntary, and euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. First, “active euthanasia occurs when something is done with the specific intention of ending a person‘s life, such as injecting a lethal medication,” while “passive euthanasia occurs when interventions that might prolong life are withheld, such as deciding against connecting a dying person to a life support” (Euthanasia- Euthanasia: History, Controversy, Facts). Second, voluntary euthanasia is when a competent person asks for help to end his life, while non-voluntary euthanasia is when a person is not competent to make the decision for himself, and involuntary euthanasia is when the patient is completely against euthanasia (National Right to Life). There is even a difference between euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, as euthanasia describes “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals,“ while physician-assisted suicide is when a person is giving the tools needed to end his own life by a physician (Suicide, Euthanasia, and Physician-Assisted Suicide). Although involuntary euthanasia should never be viewed as permissible, all other kinds of euthanasia should be legalized with the aid of living wills, giving the sufferin...
“Michael Manning, MD, in his 1998 book Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Killing or Caring?, traced the history of the word euthanasia: ‘The term euthanasia.originally meant only 'good death,'but in modern society it has come to mean a death free of any anxiety and pain, often brought about through the use of medication.” It seems there has always been some confusion and questions from our society about the legal and moral questions regarding the new science of euthanasia. “Most recently, it has come to mean'mercy killing' — deliberately putting an end to someone’s life in order to spare the individual’s suffering.’” I would like to emphasize the words “to spare the individual’s suffering”.
Euthanasia is one of the most complicated issues in the medical field due to the debate of whether or not it is morally right. Today, the lives of many patients can be saved with the latest discoveries in medicine and technology. But we are still unable to find cures to all illnesses, and patients have to go through extremely painful treatments only to live a little bit longer. These patients struggle with physical and psychological pain. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. discusses the topic of just and unjust laws in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” which brings into question whether it is just to kill a patient who is suffering or unjust to take that person’s life even if that person is suffering. In my opinion people should have the right, with certain restrictions, to end their lives in the way they see fit if they are suffering from endless pain.
Another reason a patient may opt to euthanasia is to die with dignity. The patient, fully aware of the state he or she is in, should be able choose to die in all their senses as opposed to through natural course. A patient with an enlarged brain tumor can choose to die respectively, instead of attempting a risky surgery that could leave the patient in a worse condition then before the operation, possibly brain-dead. Or a patient with early signs of Dementia or Alzheimer’s disease may wish to be granted euthanization before their disease progresses and causes detrimental loss of sentimental memories. Ultimately it should be the patient’s choice to undergo a risky surgery or bite the bullet, and laws prohibiting euthanasia should not limit the patient’s options.
Anti-euthanasia advocates claim that assisted suicide is unneeded, meaning a person seeking euthanasia “should be forced to live regardless of the quality of life,” according to Dr. Philip Nitschke. He writes in “Euthanasia: Hope you never need it, but be glad the option is there” that a person should be able to choose he or she’s own outcome “to ensure dignity and choice.” Being able to choose our path in life is something that is granted to people in first world countries, such as the United States. Removing the right to choose if a person wants to die is not only wrong, but allows unnecessary suffering to continue. Dr. Nitschke believes that ultimately, “Unless modern medicine has a cure for Alzheimer’s [or] any number of the terminal illnesses that confront [us] will keep suffering.” Death is something that will happen to everyone, but suffering is not. While people with terminal illness do not choose to have the disease, they should be able to choose if they wish to elongate the
...rable illness wishes to hasten death, the clinician should be obligated to assist the patient in carrying out those wishes, by prescribing medication or withholding life prolonging treatments. If laws were made to allow euthanasia and assisted suicide, this would have a positive effect on the economy, the public, and the emotional and financial condition of dying patients and their families.
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 defined as a deliberate act undertaken by one person with the intention of ending life of another person to relieve that person's suffering and where the act is the cause of death.”(Gupta, Bhatnagar and Mishra) Some define it as mercy killing. Euthanasia may be voluntary, non voluntary and involuntary. When terminally ill patient consented to end his or her life, it is called voluntary euthanasia. Non voluntary euthanasia occurs when the suffering person never consented nor requested to end a life. These patients are incompetent to decide because they are either minor, in a comatose stage or have mental conditions. Involuntary euthanasia is conducted when it is against the will of the patient (Gupta, Bhatnagar, Mishra). Euthanasia can be either passive or active. Passive euthanasia means life-sustaining treatments are withheld and nothing is done to keep the patient alive. Active euthanasia occurs when a physician do something by giving drugs or substances that ends a patient’s life. (Medical News Today)
Gay-Williams does not believe that euthanasia can ever be in a patient’s self-interests. In some of his augments such as a misdiagnosis or in experimental procedure he believes there is always the chance of recovers at any point. He points out that death is final and there is no way to come back. He also points out in the argument of taking our life at any time that this just provides an easy way out and that recovery is certainly possible with feeling down or depressed. I do agree with his position with this topic. I do think often times people will look for the easy way out, and do not consider the consequences of their actions they choose to make. Euthanasia is both hard on the patient themselves, but one also has to think about their
Thesis Statement: While euthanasia ends the suffering of a terminally ill patient, it may be ill-advised to use it on a patient who is not terminally ill despite their reasons or ailments.
One bad consequence that some anticipate is that active euthanasia would weaken society's commitment to providing optimal care for dying patients. Today, our health care system is largely focused on medical costs and if patients are able to afford it or not. “Euthanasia is…a very cheap service. The cost of a dose of barbiturates and curare and the few hours in a hospital bed that it takes them to act is minute compared to the massive bills incurred by many patients in the last weeks and months of their lives” (Potts 81). If euthanasia appears to be a cheaper method than providing hospice care would this potentially have a negative effect on how patients who do not chose euthanasia are treated? This is an answer we do not know for certain but it should not be disregarded. Additionally, legalizing euthanasia would also diminish all hope. Most people have heard of a miracle story about a patient who had a limited amount of time left to live and made a shocking recovery. These doctors who made the prognosis of patients whom have made a shocking recovery against all odds “... [experience] the wonderful embarrassment of being proven wrong in his or her pessimistic prognosis. To make euthanasia a legitimate option as soon as the prognosis is pessimistic enough is to reduce the probability of such extraordinary recoveries from low to zero” (Potts 79).