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What are some ethical and legal controversies with euthanasia
The right to assisted suicide
Euthanasia discussion
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Euthanasia is a hot topic in today’s society. It is defined as “The practice of ending a person's life either through an intentional act or by withholding medical care. The action is performed without malice, but with the intention of alleviating suffering or ending the pain of a terminal illness or poor quality of life” (Newton, 2013). A variation of euthanasia that is the most common is known as assisted-suicide. The majority of the time a physician will administer a drug to the person and the person will quickly pass away. Some people say that euthanasia is not ethical and that it should be illegal while other people say that euthanasia is ethical and should be legal since it relieves human suffering.
Euthanasia Should Be Legal
Euthanasia is considered to be a solution to suffering people when diseases and terminal conditions effect their daily functioning. Although assisted suicide is only legal in three states, some people believe that we should allow people with terminal illnesses the right to die in every state (Newton, 2013). The main reason people find that euthanasia is a good idea is because it allows people a simple death. With the use of euthanasia, the person experiences a fast and painless death unlike the painful life they have to live otherwise (Walter, 2013). As humans, we want to live a happy and healthy life. With a terminal illness people just want their pain to end, whether that be with death or by getting better. The reality of the situation is that they will not get better and just spend their days in pain until they die. By legalizing euthanasia, it gives the people an alternative when they are sick of the suffering.
Medical Expenses
People with terminal illness most of the time do not have enough m...
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...essure them into it, and it violates the Hippocratic Oath. On the other side, the main reasons for the legalization are that it is fast and painless which allows a simple death, it relieves the pain that these people would have to face for the rest of their lives, and because the medical expenses are a burden to them as well as their families after they have passed away naturally.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions about euthanasia/assisted suicide, which can be seen with only three states making it legal in the U.S but many other countries legalizing it. My opinion is that euthanasia should be legal because people should have the right to die and because letting people suffer is more unethical than the usage of euthanasia. No matter what other’s position may be, it is always important to evaluate the arguments for each side before taking a stance on the issue.
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
Should euthanasia be allowed or not? It has become a very controversial issue nowadays. Velleman and Hooker have different perspectives on euthanasia, and whether there should be laws permitting voluntary and non-voluntary euthanasia. Although there are well-reasoned arguments on both sides, I would strongly agree with Hooker's argument that there should be a law permitting voluntary euthanasia when it is for the wellbeing of the person and that each individual should be able to make their own decision.
The right to assisted suicide is a significant topic that concerns people all over the United States. The debates go back and forth about whether a dying patient has the right to die with the assistance of a physician. Some are against it because of religious and moral reasons. Others are for it because of their compassion and respect for the dying. Physicians are also divided on the issue. They differ where they place the line that separates relief from dying--and killing. For many the main concern with assisted suicide lies with the competence of the terminally ill. Many terminally ill patients who are in the final stages of their lives have requested doctors to aid them in exercising active euthanasia. It is sad to realize that these people are in great agony and that to them the only hope of bringing that agony to a halt is through assisted suicide.When people see the word euthanasia, they see the meaning of the word in two different lights. Euthanasia for some carries a negative connotation; it is the same as murder. For others, however, euthanasia is the act of putting someone to death painlessly, or allowing a person suffering from an incurable and painful disease or condition to die by withholding extreme medical measures. But after studying both sides of the issue, a compassionate individual must conclude that competent terminal patients should be given the right to assisted suicide in order to end their suffering, reduce the damaging financial effects of hospital care on their families, and preserve the individual right of people to determine their own fate.
Euthanasia also known as physician assisted suicide is a practice of ending life to relieve pain or incurable diseases with the help of a physician. Whether or not euthanasia is justified is a very serious moral issue. The practice of physician assisted suicide can be optional. As long as it is a person’s own decision, euthanasia is justified in some cases. Every person should have the right to end their life just like some other legal rights. As long as it is an individual’s own decision and the pain they are suffering is incurable, euthanasia can be justified.
The legalization of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide is an abomination to the government’s duty to protect its citizens. The government is supposed to put laws to protect people and making a law legal for physician assisted suicide is against the peaceful sanctity of life and shows the government inadvertently supports killing. Euthanasia is murder or manslaughter, by the definition of law, even if the patient specifically asked for them to be killed.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide is known as a process in which an individual (sick or disabled) engages in an act that leads to his or her own death with the help of physicians or family members to end pain and suffering. There are several other terms used for this process, such as active euthanasia or passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia refers to what is being done to actively end life while passive euthanasia is referred as eliminating a treatment that will prolong a patient’s life, which will eventually lead to death (Levy et al., 2103, p. 402). Euthanasia and assisted suicide pose a significant ethical issue today, and understanding the issue requires examining the different principles, such as the ethical issue, professional code of conduct, strength and limitations, autonomy and informed consent, beneficence and nonmaleficence, distribution, and confidentiality and truthfulness.
Nobody wants to experience this great hardship, watching someone you love turn into almost nothing. I believe the concept of euthanasia should be legalized because of the pain and suffering to both the patient and the family, the cost of medications and treatments, and lastly because of the decline of quality of life for the individual.
Assisted suicide has been a controversial topic for many decades. Today’s society brings up many realistic and ethical questions such as; who owns our lives? Should ending suffering be the highest priority? Who should be allowed to make the decision to end a person’s life when they are unresponsive or incompetent of making decisions? Should suicide be an option? Every answer may vary depending on whom you ask because they are only opinions. The purpose of documents such as the bill of rights and the Constitution were created to give people rights as well as freedoms, but does it include the right to choose when one’s life ends? The legalization of assisted suicide is another right person should have so they have the freedom to make their own choice when facing death. Assisted suicide should become a legal option for those suffering.
“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)
Throughout the course of history, death and suffering have been a prominent topic of discussion among people everywhere. Scientists are constantly looking for ways to alleviate and/or cure the pain that comes with the process of dying. Treatments typically focus on pain management and quality of life, and include medication and various types of therapy. When traditional treatments are not able to eliminate pain and suffering or the promise of healing, patients will often consider euthanasia or assisted suicide. Assisted suicide occurs when a person is terminally ill and believes that their life is not worth living anymore. As a result of these thoughts and feelings, a physician or other person is enlisted to “assist” the patient in committing suicide. Typically this is done by administering a lethal overdose of a narcotic, antidepressant or sedative, or by combining drugs to create an adverse reaction and hasten the death of the sick patient. Though many people believe that assisted suicide is a quick and honorable way to end the sufferings of a person with a severe illness, it is, in fact, morally wrong. Assisted suicide is unethical because it takes away the value of a human life, it is murder, and it opens the door for coercion of the elderly and terminally ill to seek an untimely and premature death. Despite the common people’s beliefs, assisted suicide is wrong and shouldn’t be legalized.
Euthanasia has been an ongoing debate for many years. Everyone has an opinion on why euthanasia should or should not be allowed but, it is as simple as having the choice to die with dignity. If a patient wishes to end his or her life before a disease takes away their quality of life, then the patient should have the option of euthanasia. Although, American society considers euthanasia to be morally wrong euthanasia should be considered respecting a loved one’s wishes. To understand euthanasia, it is important to know the rights humans have at the end of life, that there are acts of passive euthanasia already in practice, and the beneficial aspects.
Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide should become legal and available as an option for patients. Death is a personal situation and decision in life. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide have the power to save lives and by the government interfering and not legalizing it they are interfering and violating patient’s personal freedom and human rights. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide should become legal for patients; however, there should be strict rules and guidelines to follow. If suicide isn’t a crime why should euthanasia and assisted suicide?
The practices of physician assisted suicide and voluntary active euthanasia have long been topics of dispute, despite both being legal in several places throughout the world. In the United States, both Oregon and Washington State currently offer assisted death to certain terminally ill individuals. The Netherlands permits both assisted death and voluntary active euthanasia to individuals faced with unyielding and burdensome suffering. The discussion behind voluntary active euthanasia and physician assisted suicide questions both the legality and rightfulness of each practice in society. Physician assisted suicide and voluntary active euthanasia should both be widely legalized because they are morally legitimate practices implicit in the concepts
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.
There exist three different types of euthanasia: active, passive and voluntary. Active euthanasia refers to the process of injection of painkillers and sleeping pills in order to reduce the time of suffering of a patient by making his death less painful. On the other side, voluntary euthanasia refers to the case of the conscientious patient, who voluntarily demands from the doctor to give up on treatments. In this case the patient is conscious that he will die soon and regardless that stops the treatments. In my discussion related to whether euthanasia should be legalized or not I will refer only to active and voluntary euthanasia arguments.