...by labelling it as the ultimate truth of life. However, the ethical issue we have taken up is about death which is induced before time. The background setting for our live case is the very debatable issue of “Euthanasia”. Literally, euthanasia means “Good Death” (Greek: eu = good, thanatos = death). More formally, euthanasia means the intentional act or practice of painlessly putting to death persons suffering from an incurable and distressing disease as an act of mercy, which is not necessarily at the request of the patient. Forms of Euthanasia: • Voluntary euthanasia: When the patient has requested the death. • Non-voluntary: When the patient has not made any request and gave no consent. • Assisted suicide: Someone provides an individual with the information, guidance, and means to take his or her own life with the intention that they will be used for this purpose. When it is a doctor who helps another person to kill themselves it is called "physician assisted suicide." • Euthanasia by Action: Intentionally causing a person's death by performing an action such as by giving a lethal injection. • Euthanasia by Omission: Intentionally causing death by not providing necessary and ordinary (usual and customary) care or food and water. Euthanasia evokes a mixed reaction among people who come across it. For some, it is unimaginable to end a human life and yet some think it is justified to end a life which is not worth of dignity. There are several moral...
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...Legalization of Euthanasia in the United States Euthanasia is a method that produces rapid unconsciousness and subsequent death without evidence of pain or distress. “It is only legal in Oregon, Washington, Montana making it illegal in forty seven states” (Marker 26-29). It is a controversial topic that is discussed among many Americans. It has many people of different genders, races, and religions in uproar, due to the wide range of opinions one may hold towards the topic. Some feel that it is their own right to choose to die or survive, and others feel that the practice of euthanasia is a type of suicide and also murder. With the legalization of euthanasia, it would significantly cut the cost of economic burdens on the families and society; secondly it brings closure to unnecessary increasing suffering; and it’s the patients right if face with life threatening injuries and terminal illness. Euthanasia would significantly cut the cost of health care. America has serious health care problems and end of life care is incredibly expensive due to the frequency of hospitalizations, the increased need for specialists’ attention, etc. Those with terminal illnesses have even more expensive health care needs. Obviously, those in the final stages of a terminal illness are no longer in any position to contribute economically to society. From a family standpoint the lives’ of the patient may be meaningful, however from an economic standpoint they are all cost and no benefit. Along...
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...of life’s agonies is waiting for it all to be over. Euthanasia, a remedy for this man’s unfortunate situation, could be his solution to happiness. It has been a long disputed act in the United States and Europe. Euthanasia is the practice of painlessly ending the lives of people who have incurable, painful, or distressing diseases or handicaps. Euthanasia is sometimes called ‘mercy killing’. To begin, one aspect of euthanasia’s benefits is the fact that the quality of life when a person is chronically ill tends to be very bad. Euthanasia can end an uncomfortable and painful life. Secondly, euthanasia can save families money on medical bills. The cost of keeping a person alive with an unfortunate fate would be higher than a person who chooses to pass away. Lastly, a person, legally, should have the right to end their life. Firstly, the issue of quality of life plays a large role in the support of euthanasia. Lying in bed all day can be a form of torture within itself. Bed sores and boredom result from staying in bed, wasting away. Also, illness such as cancerous diseases and other sicknesses decline the quality of life. Of course, pain plays a role in this matter. It’s very difficult to function in everyday life when pain is a constant companion. To most people with any of these problems, in their point of view, value of existence can be low. Continuing along on this issue, the cost of medical bills and like billing can cost families a lot of money. Health insurance covers an...
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...Euthanasia: Freedom to Die with Dignity Charletta R. Anderson Strayer University ENG 215 Dr. Aaron Miller December 12, 2011 Euthanasia: Freedom to Die with Dignity The word “Euthanasia” comes from a Greek phrase meaning “good death”. However, in today’s society it means killing a terminally ill person as a way to end that person’s pain and suffering (Cundiff, 1992 ). In the year 2007, my grandfather the Honorable Leon Davis was dying. This American war hero had made a request to die with dignity. He was dealing with a failed kidney, pneumonia, dementia, hypertension, MRSA foot infection, a broken hip, and terrible living conditions at a nursing home. All these problems left him weak and physically dependent on others. For terminally ill patients like my grandfather, where death was inevitable and would have been less painful than living, euthanasia should be a consideration or an option. Euthanasia is a way of relieving terminally or severely ill people's pain and save them from the agony of their illness. People claim that the right to die is protected by the same constitutional safeguards that promise such rights as marriage, and the refusal or termination of life-saving medical treatment. This essay will discuss why or why not ill people should have the right to end their suffering with a quick, dignified, and merciful death by the means of Euthanasia. Legalizing Euthanasia In the 1970s , a movement that had tried to legalize some form of...
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...WHY EUTHANASIA SHOULD NOT BE LEGALIZED IN THE PHILIPPINES What is Euthanasia? According to merriam-webster dictionary online, euthanasia is the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy. It is commonly known as “mercy killing.” It could be either voluntary where a competent adult patient requests or gives informed consent to a particular course of medical treatment or non-treatment or involuntary if the decision is made without the consent of the person who is to die. The family resorts or consents the application of euthanasia if the patient is in a persistent vegetative state, brain death or coma. Actually, in most cases, the main reason is not because of the “mercy to the suffering of the person” but the incapacity to sustain financial need of the medication. The Philippines is considered as one of the developing countries until now and majority of the people belong to the poor families. But the question is, is it a valid reason for euthanasia to be legalized here in the Philippines? Is the financial incapacity of most of the Filipinos to spend for longer medication really a reasonable excuse? Many people will argue that Philippines really should legalize euthanasia given that it is a poor country and is not yet capable to provide enough medical assistance for everyone, especially to those patients that need longer hospitalization...
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...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...
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...Being terrified of becoming a financial burden on significant others is one reason why people want their lives to end by euthanasia .Insufficient funding for palliative care is equated to people who reach old-age feeling of frustrated about physical limitations and try to survive on the debilitating state that could be resolve with proper care. In comparison, it cost 35 thousands dollars to treat a long term disease condition and just 35 dollars will be spent for drugs in a euthanasia. Pro-life organisations argues that the demand for euthanasia could be eliminated totally with the chronic disease wellness programs . Huge budget blow-outs in health spending means that health-care institutions will be obliged to make budget...
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...Euthanasia: The Right to Die Tiffany Jackson EG101_U7_IP Professor Weber Due date: 10/22/13 Euthanasia, also known as mercy killing, is the act or practice of ending someone’s life that is in consent pain or is suffering from an illness. There are at least two different kind of euthanasia that are common active and inactive. Whenever euthanasia is performed in an involuntary manner it is usually because the patient is unconscious, or in a vegetable state. People often wonder what would be the pros and cons to euthanasia from religion belief to people’s personal views. With all the debates going on in different countries euthanasia can be proven to be one of the most complicated and debatable topics. People may argue that the process of dying is a part of life. From what people research it showed that if they can make a law behind euthanasia, Article 29-B then having the right to die should not be that bad. Some may say that keeping patients alive may cost a lot of money and can put people in debt with doctor bills, hospital bills that to them seem unnecessary. The same energy that is put into keeping someone alive that does not want to live can be spent saving someone that has a chance in life. Some people may call this voluntary euthanasia. Most patients trust in their doctor to help them deal with their illness and help them stay healthy and fit. As their suffering increases, their self-respect decreases (Kamisar, Yale). Some people are afraid to die so they ask their...
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...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...
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...Legalizing Euthanasia 1 Euthanasia is defined as “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy”. (Unknown, 2012) Euthanasia ends the individuals’ life by either lethal injection or the suspension of medical treatment. Euthanasia is not legalized in many places. When it comes to the debate of Euthanasia, there are more arguments on why it should be legalized than why it should stay illegal. There’s no doubt about it that constant medical bills are beyond expensive. The cost of the accessories, medicines, and machines that are needed to keep an individual alive are pricey. In 2009 an article said that 60% of people who go bankrupt are troubled by medical bills. (Tamkins, 2009) In 2007 another article explains that 72 million working-age Americans are paying off medical debt or have medical bill problems. If the number of elderly adults that deal with the same issues are included, then the total rises to 79 million. (Gonzalez, 2012) Years of everlasting medical bills and useless treatments will leave debt to the patient, family, and loved ones. That is money no one cannot afford to lose. There is no need to pay to perpetuate a life of a patient that has no chance of getting better and or living a regular life again. There is no need to pay to prolong a life of a patient that wants to die. There is no need in paying a colossal amount of money every day to suffer. Euthanasia is the...
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...IssUEs Of EUThANAsIA: ARGUmENTATIvE EssAy Bilal S. H. Badr Naga Majd T. Mrayyan (1) Bilal S. H. Badr Naga., MSN, RN, Prince Sultan Cardiac Center in Qassim, Saudi Arabia (2) Majd T. Mrayyan., Prof, RN, The Hashemite University, Jordan Correspondence: Bilal S. H. Badr Naga., MSN, RN, Prince Sultan Cardiac Center in Qassim, Saudi Arabia Email: Bilal_badrnaga@yahoo.com Case scenario Abstract Euthanasia is one of the issues that has been the subject of intense debate over time. It has been a pertinent issue in human rights discourse as it also affects ethical and legal issues pertaining to patients and health care providers. This paper discusses the legal and ethical debates concerning both types of euthanasia. It focuses on both the supporter of euthanasia and the opponent of euthanasia. Several statements for the Euthanasia argument arediscussed: a merciful response that alleviates the suffering of patients which is sometimes wrongly perceived to be otherwise unrelievable; the autonomy in which the patient has the right to make his own choices; the regulation and legislation of existing practices of euthanasia to protect health care providers and patients. In this heated debate religious, political, ethical, legal and personal views are also included. Among all these, those who desperately want to end their lives because they simply cannot go on in any way, are the ones who suffer. Every individual or group has a different viewpoint regarding euthanasia. Euthanasia is considered...
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...Euthanasia Debate May 24, 2010 Professor Melissa Green, M.H.A. Euthanasia Debate Every day in the field of medicine professionals are faced with an ethical decision or problem. The advancements in medicine and technology are raising questions and concerns never once thought of. Controversy over euthanasia is on the forefront of today’s health care platform. With the present change occurring with the American Heath Care Reform health care providers and society need to be informed of the options available in end of life care. This paper will present a debate about human euthanasia. Euthanasia will first be defined. Support for each side of the debate will be presented. Each side will be provided with questions from the opposing side, with the opposing teams response presented. Each side will then present a closing statement, again to support their side from the result of the debate. Euthanasia defined Euthanasia is the practice of mercifully ending a person's life to free someone from a deadly disease. The word euthanasia comes from the Greek word "good death." The term euthanasia is being used synonymously with the term Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS), although they are not one and the same. PAS generally refers to a practice in which the physician provides a patient with a lethal dose of medication, upon the patient's request, which the patient intends to use to end his or her own life (University of Washington School of Medicine, 2010). Voluntary...
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...Physician-assisted suicide, the good death, mercy killing, dignified death. These are all names given to EUTHANSIA. But what is euthanasia? And why is it considered to be controversial? Although the definitions used in discussions of euthanasia and assisted suicide can vary, the following are based on Special Senate Committee reports on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. Euthanasia is the deliberate act undertaken by one person with the intention of ending the life of another person in order to relieve that person’s suffering. Assisted suicide is the act of intentionally killing oneself with the assistance of another who provides the knowledge, means or both. Voluntary euthanasia occurs when the act is done in accordance with the wishes of a competent individual or a valid advance directive. Non-voluntary euthanasia occurs when the act is done without knowledge of the wishes of a competent individual or with respect to an incompetent individual. Involuntary euthanasia, which is indistinguishable from murder or manslaughter, occurs when the act is done against the wishes of a competent individual or a valid advance directive. When talking in terms of the person to die, a competent individual is capable of understanding the nature and consequences of the decision to be made and capable of communicating this decision. An incompetent individual is not capable of understanding the nature and consequences of the decision to be made, and/or is not capable of communicating the...
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... 1 9 December 2012 Euthanasia Controversy In today’s society, health care is a major issue. Healthcare is preventions of illnesses. There have been many debates on how to solve the problem. Many professional doctors and nurses around the world have been discussing different topics to try to find cures for all kinds of health issues people are faced with. One main topic that has been discussed is Euthanasia, which is the act of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy. Euthanasia is also called medically assisted suicide by a lot of people. It originated from the Greek language. Euthanasia should not be strained on a single person but could be helpful in some instances. “There are two types of Euthanasia, active and passive. Active Euthanasia is death by commission. Passive Euthanasia is death by emission.” (Mcmanaman 2). Many people make a moral differentiation between the two but if you are not severely ill or in a dying state these actions will not apply to you, because then it will just be just like murdering a patient. If it is not legally processed , this is a very offensive case so therefore the consequences will be highly looked at. The way of using Euthanasia is looked down upon because of the way it devalues human life. The Government should not have the power of making it legal to end someones life because it is such a moral issue. However, Euthanasia could be good when used...
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...Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide Yes or No HCA322: Health Care Ethics and Medical Law Instructor: Keysha Knights July 22, 2013 Yes or No Euthanasia, also known as assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide (dying) , doctor-assisted dying (suicide), and more loosely termed mercy killing, basically means to take a deliberate action with the express intention of ending a life to relieve intractable (persistent, unstoppable) suffering. Some interpret euthanasia as the practice of ending a life in a painless manner. Many disagree with this interpretation, because it needs to include a reference to intractable suffering (Nordqvist, 2010). When breaking down euthanasia there are two different types passive euthanasia and active euthanasia. Active euthanasia is a state where a patient is given a lethal injection, while passive euthanasia involves withdrawing life support systems from a patient (Anonymous, 2011). Active euthanasia basically is when the physician gives the patient medication to help end their life. Passive euthanasia is when treatments for the patient’s condition are stopped and ultimately ends in the patient’s death. When it comes to euthanasia or physician assisted suicide I can understand both sides of the debate but in the end I feel that it should be legal under certain circumstances. If a person is terminally ill I feel they should have the right to have a choice to end their life instead of suffering. A doctor’s job is to help the patient and their...
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