Euthanasia is an assisted death to those with incurable diseases who wish to die peacefully instead of going through pain and suffering; on the other hand, euthanasia can be seen as legalized murder and used for the selfishness of family members. Since euthanasia has been legalized in the United States, debate has developed from the different views whether it is deliberate killing or an end to unbearable suffering. Also, there are two different kinds of euthanasia; passive euthanasia, which would be pulling the plug on life support as opposed to active euthanasia, which is an actual poisoning shot. Cardiac and transplant surgeon, Christiaan Barnard has seen many patients suffer throughout his career. Although it was not said directly that the patient wanted to be euthanized, Barnard stated that during his practice with a patient, he was convinced that she wanted an assisted death. “During the eleven years after her first stroke, as she lay bedridden …show more content…
Working in a nursing can be a saddening experience, especially seeing resident’s of the nursing home in excruciating pain and feeling like they are suffocating is heart breaking. For example, the quality of life for residents can be poor, not in the cares given to them, but in the psychological or physical pain some of them are in. An older individual at the nursing home has bone on bone in her hip, every time we transfer her, her hip makes the sound of multiple popping knuckles at once. Moving her in and out of bed makes her cry because she cannot handle the pain. In addition to all of her pain, she has dementia and most of the time does not know where she is or what is going on. As stated earlier, doctors and nurses are there to help provide comfort and well being, not simply to extend life. Furthermore, legalizing euthanasia would bring benefits and peace of mind to patients and their
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.
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.
I picked voluntary euthanasia as my written assignment topic this week because while reading through it, my mother’s comment of that she wants to just pass away quickly, rather suffering slowly and be a burden to everyone around here a long time ago came to my mind. She made that comment after visiting someone dying from cancer, so I understand why she made that remark. The reasons cited for voluntary euthanasia is to end the suffering and stop being a burden to everyone around you and is asking for health professionals to assist in ending your life (Young, 2014). Not many countries as we learned has legalized euthanasia, but a few like the Netherlands has set 5 very strict conditions for asking for voluntary euthanasia which are: “suffering
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.
As patients come closer to the end of their lives, certain organs stop performing as well as they use to. People are unable to do simple tasks like putting on clothes, going to the restroom without assistance, eat on our own, and sometimes even breathe without the help of a machine. Needing to depend on someone for everything suddenly brings feelings of helplessness much like an infant feels. It is easy to see why some patients with terminal illnesses would seek any type of relief from this hardship, even if that relief is suicide. Euthanasia or assisted suicide is where a physician would give a patient an aid in dying. “Assisted suicide is a controversial medical and ethical issue based on the question of whether, in certain situations, Medical practioners should be allowed to help patients actively determine the time and circumstances of their death” (Lee). “Arguments for and against assisted suicide (sometimes called the “right to die” debate) are complicated by the fact that they come from very many different points of view: medical issues, ethical issues, legal issues, religious issues, and social issues all play a part in shaping people’s opinions on the subject” (Lee). Euthanasia should not be legalized because it is considered murder, it goes against physicians’ Hippocratic Oath, violates the Controlled
“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)
A definition of euthanasia is, “a painless killing, especially to end a painful and incurable disease; mercy killing (World Book, p. 733). This intentional termination of life by another is at the request of the person who dies, but like so many other religious, social and political terms, euthanasia has many meanings. Passive euthanasia is defined as, the hastening of death of a person by withdrawing some type of support and letting nature take its course, examples of this are, removing life support systems, stopping medical procedures, stopping food and water, not delivering CPR and letting the patient’s heart stop. The most common form of passive euthanasia is to give a person large doses of morphine to control pain, despite the likely hood that the pain killer would suppress respiration, thus causing death earlier than normal, passive euthanasia is usually used on patients who are terminally ill, suffering greatly, or in a persistent vegetative state (Robinson, p. 1).
Euthanasia, also known as “mercy killing,” is defined as an “intentional end of the patient’s life by a physician, usually by lethal injection” (Religion Facts). A difference must be made between euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, and between active vs. passive euthanasia. In a sense, euthanasia may be compared with homicide, as death is a direct result of the action of the physician, while in doctor-assisted suicide the physician is only giving the patient the means to end his/her own life (could be compared with suicide). Of course, these concepts have slightly different connotations, and it depends on the personal worldview of an individual on how to interpret them. On the other hand, the distinguishing characteristics between active and passive euthanasia is of huge importance because the former is mostly unacceptable and the latter is a largely acceptable practice in terms of bioethical aspects of each.
Physician-Assisted Suicide is assisted suicide from a physician to a person to make it as painless and dignified as possible. There is also Euthanasia, which is to end a person life so they don’t have to go through any more pain and suffering without the patients consent. As of right now, only Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington have legalized Physician-Assisted suicide. To be eligible for Physician-assisted suicide, a patient must have a terminally ill disease. There are many pros and cons in this if you are having unbearable pain and want to end the suffering.
Euthanasia is the process of killing a patient with the intention of relieving their suffering and pain. It is also commonly known as mercy killing, and many often do not agree with it most especially in cases where a terminal illness is not inclusive. While euthanasia has been legalized in certain states in the United States such as Oregon, a lot of opposition has arisen as to whom so legible to receiving this treatment.
Euthanasia also known as passive or active euthanasia, is the act of painlessly killing a patient who is suffering a terminal illness. Euthanasia is a controversial topic and the moral and ethical views make it illegal in most countries, however, emotional trauma and dignity of one dying is not taken into account during the process. By providing this opportunity to these patients, it takes the patient out of their misery. There are two terms of euthanasia called passive and active euthanasia – passive euthanasia is the act of withholding treatment and letting a patient die on their own. Active euthanasia is the act of killing a patient due to their request and it is illegal in the United States (Virtue Ethics). Countries like Belgium, Colombia,
The idea of euthanasia is something that elderly people today face almost every day. I believe that it should be up to the human being suffering, whether or not they want to suffer any longer. As people grow old, they become weaker and more dependent on others naturally. Plus adding a fatal sickness to the scenario and things must seem hopeless. Nobody should have to endure such pain and agony just to save their loved ones the pain of letting them go. We do not let an animal suffer to any extent, as soon as things seem hopeless; we put them to sleep. Not that we should kill anyone at the first sign of illness, but there are many elderly people in convalescent homes just waiting for the day their pain will end. And why do we let these people suffer, because we believe it is morally wrong to kill a human being. But in this scenario I believe it is morally right to grant the wishes of the person in agony...
The definition of euthanasia is assisted suicide. A patient would request to the doctor that he or she would voluntarily end his or her life due to intense pain in the body or from terminal illness. This topic is controversial because the patients would request to end their lives while the doctors would fulfill that request. While on the other hand, people are against euthanasia because they believe there are other ways to resolve the patient's illness instead of ending their own lives at will.
Hospice has been able to provide support and relief for patients in pain, making them as comfortable as possible. One of the many workers who help the dying are called palliative care workers. Palliative care, as defined by the National Association of Social Workers (2010), is the “seeking to prevent or relieve pain—which can be physical, psychosocial, or spiritual—and other symptoms associated with serious illness. Although hospice facilities are strongly opposed to euthanasia, Dr. Dee Grott gave her own view on the controversial topic. She stated, “as a physician there are two questions to consider,” she said. “Do I think patients have a right to choice? Yes. But do I personally feel I have the right to take another’s life. No. It’s not for me to decide when you’ll die.” However, she will not try to revive a dying patient who has overdosed or in cardiac arrest unless they request it before hand. “We shouldn’t prolong life at any cost, for most of our patients, it’s medically futile since they are already so close to death (Hunter, 2002, p.
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.