Ethical Dilemmas: Euthanasia
Ethical Dilemmas:
Euthanasia
Is euthanasia, or assisted suicide, humane? Should it be accepted in the medical world? Euthanasia is a very serious ethical dilemma faced in modern health care. Euthanasia is mostly a matter of opinion, and has different meanings to different people. In my opinion, there are many good arguments supporting euthanasia but I believe euthanasia should be ignored. I would personally never be able to perform euthanasia on someone, I would feel too guilty, but not everyone feels the same way.
Firstly, what exactly is euthanasia? Euthanasia, as defined by the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, is when a patient is intentionally killed by another person. This definition says that euthanasia can be requested by the patient, requested by someone else for the patient, or carried out without the patient’s permission. They later go on to define assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is when a patient is provided with instructions on how to intentionally kill themselves. In this paper, euthanasia refers to a mixture of the two definitions. Euthanasia is the intentional killing of a patient by a health-care worker, upon the patient’s request, where the patient is informed exactly how things will be carried out before the procedure is conducted.
As a health-care worker you must respect the Basic Rules of Ethics and the Patient’s Bill of Rights. But what happens when a situation arises that supports and goes against these ethical standards? Euthanasia is one of these situations. Certain parts of the Basic Rules of Ethics conflict with other parts. For example, the Basic Rules of Ethics states:
Respect the patient’s right to die peacefully and with dignity.
Put promotion of health above all else.
Avoid immoral, unethical and/or illegal practice.
These three rules of ethics are very controversial to each other. The third one states that you must avoid immoral, unethical and/or illegal practice. Euthanasia is legal in some countries,
Euthanasia
Is euthanasia, or assisted suicide, humane? Should it be accepted in the medical world? Euthanasia is a very serious ethical dilemma faced in modern health care. Euthanasia is mostly a matter of opinion, and has different meanings to different people. In my opinion, there are many good arguments supporting euthanasia but I believe euthanasia should be ignored. I would personally never be able to perform euthanasia on someone, I would feel too guilty, but not everyone feels the same way.
Firstly, what exactly is euthanasia? Euthanasia, as defined by the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, is when a patient is intentionally killed by another person. This definition says that euthanasia can be requested by the patient, requested by someone else for the patient, or carried out without the patient’s permission. They later go on to define assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is when a patient is provided with instructions on how to intentionally kill themselves. In this paper, euthanasia refers to a mixture of the two definitions. Euthanasia is the intentional killing of a patient by a health-care worker, upon the patient’s request, where the patient is informed exactly how things will be carried out before the procedure is conducted.
As a health-care worker you must respect the Basic Rules of Ethics and the Patient’s Bill of Rights. But what happens when a situation arises that supports and goes against these ethical standards? Euthanasia is one of these situations. Certain parts of the Basic Rules of Ethics conflict with other parts. For example, the Basic Rules of Ethics states:
Respect the patient’s right to die peacefully and with dignity.
Put promotion of health above all else.
Avoid immoral, unethical and/or illegal practice.
These three rules of ethics are very controversial to each other. The third one states that you must avoid immoral, unethical and/or illegal practice. Euthanasia is legal in some countries,