...Euthanasia is a word coined from the Greek language, Eu meaning good or noble; Thanatos meaning death, in the seventeenth century by Francis Bacon to refer to an easy, painless, happy death. (Singer) Within euthanasia, there are two types. Active and passive. Active euthanasia occurs when a medical professional or another person deliberately does something to cause the death of a patient. Passive euthanasia occurs when a medical professional either stops doing something that is keeping a patient alive or they don’t do something necessary to keep a patient alive. Like switching off life support or disconnecting a feeding tube. A term that is commonly confused, but is similar to euthanasia, is physician assisted suicide. Although the results and reasoning’s behind each type of death is the same, they differ in the way that the death is administered. In euthanasia, the physician performs the intervention. Usually with a lethal dose of a powerful drug such as morphine or Pentobarbital. During physician assisted suicide, the drug, and means of delivery, are given to the patient by the physician. However, the patient accomplishes the act of injection. Leading to his or her own death (A General History Of Euthanasia) The first time euthanasia was reported on record was around 400BC by Suetonius, a Roman historian, while describing the death of Augustus Caesar. Although the actions of an easy, painless death have been used on hopeless patients since ancient times, these acts have been...
Words: 3117 - Pages: 13
...born in this world must die, despite the level od medical knowledge and skill. when medical knowldege is certain that a persons illness isn't going to be cured, in other words, he or she is terminally ill, would it not be merciful to allow the person to die? Would not euthanasia--or mercy killing as it is termed--be acceptable to the suffering patient as well as to those who are close to him? mercy killing causes no harm to anyone. in fact, it provides a relief to the realtives of the victims as they undergo immense agony, seeing a dear one suffering. Euthanasia is an act of professional support to the terminally ill patient and hence canot be held as a cruel act on the part of the person who commints it. On the other hand, there is a deep rooted belief that life is a god given gift and it is presumptious on the part of a human being to end it. As for taking it away from another human being, howsoever merciful the motive, it is regarded as playing god. If the patient is terminally ill or in a coma, without having expressed any idea on the subject, who is to decide on terminating the persons life? The possibily of greedy and unscrupuluos relatives colluding with an equally unscrupuluos doctor to kill a patient, is a real danger. Morever, though it is an individual decisiom, it cannot be ignored as a major social problem as it opens up a chapter of suffering for the realtives of the patient. Any law, therefore, on euthanasia should have safeguards to preclude any possiblity...
Words: 645 - Pages: 3
...Advantages and Disadvantages of Euthanasia Discursive Essay Diara Utebay ID 20140542 Academic Reading and Writing 1 Yelena Zhacheva SEPTEMBER 23, 2014 Discursive Essay Outline Essay question: Should the whole world recognize physician-assisted suicide? I. Introduction Thesis statement: Euthanasia would be recognized by the entire world because physician-assisted suicide leads to easily leaving our world without any pain and suffering and it is another case of freedom of choice. However, mercy-killing is contrary to the Hippocratic Oath. II. Body A. Main idea 1: Euthanasia changes view of life, thereby helps not to be afraid of pain before death 1. It improves quality of life. 2. The best way to relieve the pains. 3. Death is the opposite of life, but the process of dying is part of life. B. Main idea 2: Physician-assisted suicide is another case of freedom of choice 1. If the dying process is unpleasant, people should have the right to shorten it. 2. Countries which protect rights of their citizens. C. Main idea: Mercy-killing is contrary to the Hippocratic Oath. 1. Doctor’s job is to protect and save life. 2. Providing deadly drugs is contrary to the oath. III. Conclusion Everything goes to the fact that euthanasia will be recognized by the entire world, however, medical professionals are not in hurry to make the most important decision, which is related to euthanasia. It has been argued that euthanasia is one of the most pressing...
Words: 1592 - Pages: 7
...of Jacob “Jack” Kevorkian offered assistance to people who wished to end their own life with a physician assisted suicide also known as Euthanasia. The term Euthanasia was first used in the 17th century as a medical term to describe an easy, painless, and happy death. There are two types of Euthanasia, passive and active. Passive euthanasia is when a patient refuses their medical treatment which may hasten their passing; this is also considered legal euthanasia. Active euthanasia is the acceleration of death by the use of drugs and it can be either physician assisted or done by the patient themselves and is also considered illegal euthanasia. While active euthanasia is illegal in most of the United States as well as the world, there is controversy that it should be the terminally ill patient’s choice as to whether or not they live in pain or suffer. How can helping someone relieve pain and suffering be illegal? The ethics of euthanasia have been a debate since the 1800’s, with debates peaking every couple of decades. Many of the debates against euthanasia fall back to the ethics and how euthanasia can be used as a solution to lower medical costs, a failure to provide care for people with disabilities, or even that the doctor themselves would be going against the very Hippocratic Oath they are sworn to. First and foremost euthanasia was first used to relieve terminally ill patients from pain and suffering only if that patient was able to provide consent to the physician...
Words: 1662 - Pages: 7
...and Senate Bill No. 2378 or An Act Providing For a National Policy on Reproductive Health and Population and Development introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago. THESIS OR CONVICTION: Yes, COUNTER ARGUMENT: No, because SUPPORTING ARGUMENTS 1. No, because Philip Nitschke, MD, Director and Founder of Exit International, commented in his June 5, 2009 interview with Kathryn Jean Lopez titled "Euthanasia Sets Sail" that appeared in the National Review Online: "Over time the Hippocratic Oath has been modified on a number of occasions as some of its tenets became less and less acceptable. References to women not studying medicine and doctors not breaking the skin have been deleted. The much-quoted reference to 'do no harm' is also in need of explanation. Does not doing harm mean that we should prolong a life that the patient sees as a painful burden? Surely, the 'harm' in this instance is done when we prolong the life, and 'doing no harm' means that we should help the patient die. Killing the patient--technically, yes. Is it a good thing--sometimes, yes. Is it consistent with good medical end-of-life care: absolutely yes." 2. No, because Sherwin Nuland,...
Words: 1169 - Pages: 5
...In Margaret Battin’s article, ‘Euthanasia: The Fundamental Issues’, she argues for the right of a painless killing for those suffering from medical conditions. She suggests that there are three moral principles: mercy, autonomy, and justice, which favor the legalization of this practice. Battin’s arguments will then be critiqued further by issues such as the Hippocratic Oath and physician’s abuse in power. This paper will conclude that moral justification for euthanasia on the same grounds of mercy, autonomy and justice cannot be reached. Active euthanasia involves directly stopping bodily processes that otherwise would have been capable of sustaining life, providing direct help for the patient to die (Battin, 321). Unlike passive euthanasia, which is the act of allowing the patient to die...
Words: 2190 - Pages: 9
...Hypocritical Oath As Perri Klass reflects in “Invasions,” the modern relations between doctors and patients tend to dehumanize both. This is a necessary evil, to a certain degree. “As a patient, you have no privacy. The privacy of your body is of necessity violated constantly by doctors and nurses… And your body is made to give up its secrets with a variety of sophisticated techniques… The whole point is to deny your body the privacy that pathological processes need in order to do their damage.” (Kass 162) When does this breach of privacy go too far, though? Are the modern physicians still upholding the Hippocratic Oath they took when they became medical professionals? In the case of the resident that Klass worked under as a medical student, no. On the subject of patient confidentiality, the Hippocratic Oath explicitly states, “Things I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of treatment regarding the life of human beings, things which one should never divulge outside, I will keep to myself.” (Kass 122) Yet the resident would joke about his patient’s past and present ailments with his fellow...
Words: 622 - Pages: 3
...Against Humanity: Euthanasia Tolga Arslan ESL 160-03: Combined Skills VI Professor Roxanne Leach April 24, 2013 Tolga Arslan 4/24/2013 ESL 160-3 Library Report Essay Professor Roxanne Leach Against Humanity: Euthanasia Euthanasia is a serious political, moral, and ethical issue in today’s society. Euthanasia is putting people in a painless death or when terminally ill people choose to end his or her life with a doctor’s help. The word euthanasia comes from Greek “eu”, goodly or well and “thanatos” death, so it is good death. This short definition is a cause of all those debates all over the world. Doctors, politicians, religious leaders, lawyers, and general public argue for euthanasia, whether it should be legalized or not. Euthanasia is a serious topic because it goes against the standards of traditional medicine. First, doctors have to take the Hippocratic Oath to become a real doctor. The Hippocratic Oath says do whatever you can to save people’s life. Euthanasia says just kill them if they want to die. Which doctor can kill their client if they have taken the Hippocratic Oath or if they are real doctors? Second, euthanasia is not always applied to terminally ill patients either. People who have been in serious accidents, or who have debilitating diseases are often consideration for the application of euthanasia. The problem is, these patients are neither in a coma nor senseless. According to http://www.euthanasia.cc, “A pair of identical twins has died after...
Words: 1073 - Pages: 5
...Zurain Merchant Mrs. Panvini 11/2/2015 Euthanasia is known as assisted suicide which is the killing of a person by letting them die to prevent pain or suffering. The legalization of Euthanasia is heavily debated today. There are strong arguments for both sides of the argument. Euthanasia is “wrongfully killing” and it should not be allowed in the New York State. If euthanasia is legalized in New York State, many negative affects might follow and our states commitment to improve the ill and sick can weaken. Euthanasia should not be legalized in New York State since ensuring that someone’s pain is managed is a better option than to kill them. “The better response to patients in pain is not to kill them, but to ensure that their pain is...
Words: 722 - Pages: 3
...assistance. This is called assisted suicide. Assisted suicide or in other words euthanasia is the killing by an act of an independent human being for their own benefit. There are many kinds of definitions that one must argue the fact of, what is euthanasia. Well you would have to keep reading farther on. Euthanasia can either be voluntary or non voluntary, when it then becomes murder. But what it is not is that it's not euthanasia unless the death is intentionally. It is not medical actions or withdrawing treatment. But in this essay I will give you the most frequent pros and cons of this issue. My view is that there should be allowed assisted suicide. As many people might know is that many people are against euthanasia than most others. Some examples of people being against it would be that it demeans the value of human life, which the human life could have many different views as people understand the concept of actually doing it. Anyway, in many cases, many religions do not allow the potential suicide and the killing of others. Also it would violate the Hippocratic doctors oath. Some people also believe that someday a miracle might actually happen. Lastly people think that doctors are given too much power, and by some miracle might be wrong or unethical. Also people think that assisted suicide could be mandated for economic reasons. Wesley J. Smith, a consultant for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, said that he could explain in three words why people...
Words: 1003 - Pages: 5
...Lee and Alexander Stingl explain assisted suicide in the point of view of two parties, pro, and con. “Assisted Suicide is a controversial medical and ethical issue based on the question of whether, in certain situations, doctors should be allowed to help patients actively determine the time and circumstances of their death.” Stated in the article by Lee and Stingl, morality plays a key role in whether or not physicians have a right to assist patients in the final decision for their death. In the thesis above, the authors did not choose a bias on whether assisted suicide is right or wrong and leave it to the audience to decide, based...
Words: 745 - Pages: 3
...Euthanasia is the administration of a lethal agent by another person to a patient for the purpose of relieving the patient's intolerable and incurable suffering. Physician-assisted suicide occurs when a physician facilitates a patient's death by providing the necessary means and/or information to enable the patient to perform the life-ending act (AMA Policy on End-of-Life). Due to the fact that this is a controversial subject, it is not widely accepted by many. As of right now, euthanasia is only legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Colombia and Luxembourg, and assisted suicide is only legal in Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Albania and in the American states of Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico Washington, and Montana. We control the course of our own...
Words: 1376 - Pages: 6
...To this day, one of the biggest controversial topics that continue to spark endless discussions is the public approval of euthanasia. Euthanasia which is commonly known as “assisted suicide” is the deliberate action of ending a life to relieve continuous pain and suffering (Nordqvist, 2010). This has become a complicated global issue, as various cultures battle with the list of ethical, religious, and legal factors that play a major part in the act. Many see euthanasia as a benefit not only for the patient, but for the patient’s family as well. In this case, the practice is able to end one’s life in a peaceful manner, while a financial and emotional burden can also be lifted off of the family members. In the eyes of others, euthanasia is an act that goes against God’s will and the idea that death is spiritually important and shouldn’t be altered (BBC, 2009). Aside from the fact that euthanasia is also referred to as “mercy killing”, it is still the act of murder—an unlawful premeditated killing of another human being (Answers, n.d.). I personally am against the practice of euthanasia because it is immoral and wrongful. Recurrently, there are cases where patients aren’t given a choice when it comes to euthanasia. In fact, many ill patients lack the sufficient knowledge needed to ease their own symptoms, and aren’t in stable enough conditions to make critical decisions revolving life and death. After being in constant care, it is common for these patients to feel anxious about...
Words: 1507 - Pages: 7
...physician-assisted suicide, yet it still remains a topic of medical ethics versus a patient's right to choose. Physicians are trained to heal the sick, care for the injured, and cure diseases. However, medical school does not prepare them when they cannot cure or heal their patient and the patient wants to die instead of continue to suffer. These decisions are individual and family decisions that should be taken into consideration by medical professionals. The debate between ethics and patient care and choice is s difficult one. "The debate over rights of conscience in health care has often focused on controversial issues at life’s margins such as abortion and decisions at the end of life" (Cheshire, 2011, p. 140). When a person has attempted all means of medical intervention available today and all the medical profession is able to do for them is keep them comfortable until that time comes for them to pass, inane human rights should allow that person to decide if they would like to humanely end their own suffering. I believe that there is both legal justification and a moral obligation of medical professionals to legalize the practice of physician-assisted suicide. In ancient times, physician assisted suicide was frequently seen as a way to protect one’s honor. In most recent years, on the other hand, the act of voluntary euthanasia has been viewed as a response to the progress of modern medicine. New and often expensive medical technologies have been created that prolong life. However...
Words: 2227 - Pages: 9
...of their life with dignity and called it as the euthanasia. It turned out that it has two sides about the point of view towards the euthanasia issue in a positive and negative ways. Although some people against these ideas and claim that it is an unacceptable manner, I certainly disagree about that because it can be proved that the euthanasia is one of the most peaceful ways to escape the great pain for dying people. Euthanasia can be one of the way to relieve the pain and suffering for dying people. As everyone knows that people who have to struggle with the terminal illness always end up in physical and psychological suffering, so some of them wanted to die before the pain is getting worse. According to the news of the Telegraph in 2008 which reported about Val McKay, the British woman who was diagnosed with the multiple sclerosis. She commented with the reporter before she went to the Dignitas, where is the only Swiss facility to accept foreigners for the euthanasia that people should not suffer with their illness, they should...
Words: 1205 - Pages: 5
