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The word Euthanasia derives from the Greek words Eu and Thanatos which means easy or good death. Euthanasia is is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma[1]. Euthanasia exists in various forms, each one specific in its criteria. Firstly there is active and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia involves the use of direct action in order to end the patient’s life whilst passive euthanasia is the withholding of medical aid in order to allow the patient to die naturally such as not performing life-extending surgery or turning off a life support system. The next distinction is between Voluntary and Involuntary euthanasia. Voluntary euthanasia involves the patient’s termination at their own request whilst involuntary euthanasia occurs when the patient is unable to ably make a decision and therefore a suitable person makes the decision for them. Indirect euthanasia involves treating the patients pain but with the side effect of death, the primary intention is often used to justify the outcome. This is often referred to as the doctrine of double effect and in reality is not considered euthanasia given that the real purpose of the treatment is pain relief and death is merely seen as the side-affect. Finally there is assisted suicide which involves a patient incapable of committing suicide themselves asks for assistance in doing so. Euthanasia is a controversial topic that contradicts the age old moral injunction “thou shalt not kill”[2]. But similarly denying patient’s of this choice is defying medical practice cornerstones such as the patient’s autonomy and promoting their best interests. Different countries hold varying stances on Euthanasia but it is currently illegal in the UK. Most recently the case of Tony Nicklinson, a man totally paralysed by locked-in syndrome requesting euthanasia, has come to the forefront of the debate. Given the right to take his case to…
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Similarly, euthanasia can be active and passive, but each differs from the other. The difference between active and passive euthanasia is that active euthanasia is that death is induced. For instance, the explicit request from a person suffering an incurable disease wishing to die. In this case, he or she is induced to death by injecting a lethal dose of a drug. Contrary, passive euthanasia occurs when a person is removed a life-sustaining device such as a heart-lung machine. In addition, there is a difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide and it develops in the degree of involvement and behavior. Assisted suicide is when a physician makes lethal options available to the patient to be used based on the patient’s own choosing. In contrast, euthanasia entails the physician taking a role in carrying out the patient’s request by involving intravenous delivery of a lethal substance. In consequence, euthanasia refers as “easy death” since it is the act of ending the lives of individuals who are suffering from an incurable…
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With that being said, there are two main types of euthanasia called active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia describes actively attempting to end a patient’s life by means of drugs or a lethal injection. Passive euthanasia is defined as removing or withholding a medicine or treatment that could have prolonged the patient’s life. Recently, there has been much debate on whether or not passive euthanasia is as morally wrong as active euthanasia. Some claim that passive euthanasia is not a direct violation of the basic good of human life, therefore it is morally permissible. They declare active euthanasia, on the other hand, is a direct violation, and therefore is not morally permissible. I will concede that this statement is technically true in a few rare situations, but in the majority of passive euthanasia cases, the patient is being taken off life support because he is tired of living and simply wants to die. And if that is the case, who’s to tell some terminally ill patient that he’s just going to have to live out his remaining days off treatment in pain and without hope. If a terminal patient wants to die, he should be accommodated not simply ignored. If some patients would like to refuse treatment, and live out the rest of their days naturally, that’s their decision too. It’s the patient’s life. Doctors should act on the requests of their patients, not what…
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Euthanasia is another term for mercy killing. It is said to be the act of putting to death painlessly a person suffering from such incurable or painful disease. Meanwhile, in the 21st century it has been argued that euthanasia is one of the famous social concerns nowadays. Moreover, it is usually done by doctors to their patients who are terminally ill. Although euthanasia ends the suffering of the patients, it can damage the teachings of some religions, principle of medical ethics, and the patients trust.…
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Living is more valuable than dying and threatening to diminish the value of life is dangerous. Euthanasia, also called mercy killing, is the practice of doctors intentionally ending a terminally ill patient’s life in what is purportedly a gentle and dignified manner. The term originated in ancient Greek and means “easy death.” Doctors perform euthanasia by administering lethal drugs or by withholding treatment that would prolong the patient’s life. Physician-assisted suicide is also a form of euthanasia, but the difference between the two methods is that in euthanasia, doctors end the patient’s life with lethal injections, whereas, in physician-assisted suicide, patients kill themselves with a lethal amount of drugs prescribed by the doctors.…
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Euthanasia advocates Patients are constantly receiving criticism from those who believe that euthanasia is not ethical and should be illegal everywhere. Euthanasia can be defined as the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease. The practice of euthanasia is illegal in most countries. Euthanasia can be either voluntary, non-voluntary, or involuntary. Voluntary euthanasia occurs when the patient requests to die. Non-voluntary euthanasia occurs when a patient is either unconscious or unable to make a choice regarding their death and an appropriate person makes this decision for them. Involuntary euthanasia occurs when the patient wishes to live but is killed anyway and is considered murder. There are different…
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Medical News Today explains euthanasia as the act of consenting to the termination of one’s life legally through a doctor. Although the general idea of euthanasia is thought of as assisted suicide, this treatment branches into several different aspects. There is passive euthanasia, which is more commonly found in Physician Assisted Suicide, and there is active euthanasia that uses lethal substances to end one’s life. The majority of controversy surrounding this topic is actually caused by the active form of euthanasia.…
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Definitions of euthanasia abound in the medical community. John Keown in his book Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy: An Argument Against Legalisation, creates a succinct definition of euthanasia based on various understandings of the process, "Euthanasia involves doctors making decisions which have the effect of shortening a patient's life and these decisions are based on the belief that the patient would be better off dead" (Keown 10). One often sees manifestations of euthanasia on the death beds of those close to death. Doctors, loved ones, or the patient himself decides that it is better to be dead than alive. However, a major distinction must be made between active and passive euthanasia.…
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Euthanasia, “also called mercy killing. The act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die,as by withholding extreme medical measures, a person or animal suffering from incurable ,especially painful,disease or condition.” (Dictionary) . Physician assisted suicide is a personal choice patients in great pain chose to find relief. By law in most places of the world, it is illegal for a doctor to take part in helping someone end their own life. A doctor or physician can go to jail for many years or possibly even for life for doing what their jobs are supposed to be dedicated to - helping people. It should be common sense to realize it is one’s own civil right to decide what to do with his or her own body, life, and fate. If a person would…
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Euthanasia refers to the practice of s deliberated intervention undertaken to produce the termination of a very sick person’s life in order to relieve them from their suffering. Euthanasia can be categorized in voluntary euthanasia, non-voluntary euthanasia, involuntary euthanasia, active or passive euthanasia. The voluntary euthanasia takes place when a person wants die and says so and asks for the help of somebody or something else to die. Non-voluntary euthanasia refers to when the person can’t make a decision or cannot make their wishes known. For example, the person is in coma, is too young, is mentally retarded and other similar cases. Involuntary euthanasia happens when a person wants to live but is killed anyways. This is usually murder but not always. For example, let’s say a person is seen in an 8th floor window of a burning building and their clothes are on fire and the fire brigade hasn’t arrived yet. The person starts screaming for help and a passerby has a gun and shoots the screaming person because he/she knows that within seconds the person whose clothes are on fire is going to start to suffer and agonize from the burns until its death. Active euthanasia occurs when the medical professionals, or another person, deliberately do something that causes the patient to die. Passive euthanasia occurs when the patient dies because the medical professionals either don't do something necessary to keep the patient alive, or when they stop doing something that is keeping the patient alive (switch off life-support machines, disconnect a feeding tube, among others).…
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The two medical classifications of Euthanasia are Passive and Active. Passive Euthanasia occurs when a doctor or medical expert is given the option not to prescribe treatments for a hopelessly ill patient. If a Doctor prescribes strong painkillers to a patient which may cause long-term effects, some people might argue that Passive Euthanasia is taking place. However, many disagree with this as there is no intention of death. Active Euthanasia is when the intention is to end the patient’s life in one move with perhaps a shot or another substance. Active Euthanasia can be concluded by the patient or somebody else.…
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Euthanasia is the act of allowing a person to die painlessly by withholding medical measures. Some consider euthanasia to be mercy killing, the practice of ending a life in order to relieve someone from pain or intolerable suffering. There are two principles of euthanasia, which are active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. There are four indirect forms of euthanasia as well, voluntary and involuntary, direct, and indirect. Active euthanasia is when medical professionals or another person consciously chooses to do something that causes a patient or someone sick to pass away; while passive euthanasia is when someone dies because medical professionals or another person stops doing something that is causing someone to stay alive. Although there are different types of euthanasia, there is no difference in the purpose. Euthanasia is the intentional termination of one’s life by another human being. Many are against euthanasia because it goes against the 6th amendment, “Thou Shalt Not Kill” and many medical professionals are against assisted suicide because it violates human dignity and a person’s will to survive.…
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Euthanasia, also known as assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide or doctor-assisted suicide, or simply known as mercy killing is the action of deliberately ending the life of a hopelessly sick and injured individual (such as an animal or human being) to relieve pain and suffering. Euthanasia is a very controversial topic with many views related to religion, moral, ethical and compassionate arguments surrounding the issue (MedicalNewsToday, 2017; nhs.uk, 2017; Merriam-webster.com, 2017).…
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In active euthanasia, death is achieved through the deliberate actions of another, such as when a doctor administers a lethal dose of Morphine at the patient 's request. In passive euthanasia, death occurs as a result of the decision to not take action such as in a do not resuscitate order (4). In physician-assisted suicide, a doctor provides the means by which the patient will take his or her life (vicki lachman, Physicain assisted suicide: compassionate release or murder). Henceforth, the term euthanasia will be used in reference to active…
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Euthanasia or “mercy killing/death” as it may be referred to as has become more complex as the centuries go on; there are three specific forms of Euthanasia. There is Voluntary, Involuntary, and Nonvoluntary euthanasia. Voluntary Euthanasia is when someone other than the patient intentionally terminates the patient’s life. The term Mercy Death can be applied to this type of Active Euthanasia because the patient is giving voluntary consent; such as a “living will’ or communicating verbally. A “living will” is a written document that the patient who is terminally ill instructs anybody to take his/her own life.…
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