Legalization of Euthanasia Outline Introduction Legislative Measures The Policy of Non-Intervention Physicians Role Alternatives to Euthanasia Conclusion Although euthanasia is synonymous to easy death aimed end the life in order to give release from incurable suffering, there is no other word having more doubtful and double meaning. Introduction Euthanasia. What is it? Is it a right for death or the help for suicides? The term euthanasia was introduced by F. Bacon in XVII century. It is determined by Britannica and Americana encyclopedias as the practice of ending life in order to give release from incurable suffering (p.711).
This term can also be referred to suicide or to the act of ending another persons life (p.711).
From the very beginning euthanasia was used for definition of the easy death.
Further it was used as the practice or killing out of pity or mercy killing (p.610).
The case in point is a calculated homicide with the aim to give release from sufferings. In this case, there is no other word having more doubtful and double meaning. Birth control became a common practice. However, do we have right to plan our death? Does the person, whose sufferings are stronger than the fear of non-existence, have right to live worse than not to live at all? Modern medicine is able to sustain life in the bodies that would inevitably die with no intervention of doctors. Is it moral to support live in those people, who are unconscious for a more or less extended time? Is it permissible to voluntary stop the suffering? In case it is admissible, on which conditions, and who will be responsible for the procedure of euthanasia? Legislative measures These issues are actively discussed in the modern society, especially in countries where the effective and new technologies of supporting and prolongation of life are implemented.
The Research paper on Euthanasia Life Vs Death
Research Paper Euthanasia: Life vs. Death The word euthanasia is of Greek origin, which literally translates to mean happy or good death. However, since the beginning of the 19 th century, euthanasia has become associated with speeding up the process of dying or the destruction of so-called useless lives. No longer true to its literal meaning, it is now a practice of deliberating causing or ...
Some countries already have practice (or at least have doctors) of euthanasia (e.g. ageing European countries and the U.S.).
The Netherlands legislation allows euthanasia. The U.S. legislation supports practice, where the person has an opportunity to express his will in legally admissible and correct form in case the person will fall into deep coma or will be informed about the incurable disease. Oregon Death With Dignity Act (DWDA) is one of such citizens initiatives. The Act allows terminally ill Oregon residents to obtain and use prescriptions from their physicians for self-administered, lethal medications.
Under the Act, ending one’s life in accordance with the law does not constitute suicide (The Death With Dignity Act: Overview of Oregon’s Physician-Assisted Suicide Law, 259).
However, in case the patient expresses his will in such a form, the physicians should know how to react on these DTDSs (Desire To Die Statements) because sometimes they can provoke concern and confusion for health professionals, even those with many years experience, as they try to determine the basis of these statements and an appropriate response (Hudson, P.).
The Policy of Non-Intervention A number of European countries implement policy of non-intervention under appropriate circumstances. However, the issue of euthanasia is the question is open to discussion in many world countries. There is a movement in support of legalization of euthanasia, in order to permit no secret and illegal cases and crying abuses. At the same time, there are opponents of legalization of euthanasia. Some of them remind us pro-life Reagans standpoint (Protect Life From Conception Until Natural Death, 972).
Physicians Role The spiritual and cleansing role of euthanasia is not a sufficient argument in support of suffering. Modern medicine, which is aimed to sustain life, thus, supporting life supports and prolongs sufferings. What are people more afraid of? Suffering or death? Probably, it is a matter of presentation. Euthanasia is often presented as the act of mercy in relation to people suffering from diseases. The supporters of euthanasia consider it admissible under certain conditions, the sense of which is expressed in the requirement to comply with the patients right for making decision. In order to place emphasis on this fact, American medicine calls euthanasia PAS (physician assisted suicide) or assisted suicide.
The Essay on Life Support
Hello, everybody. Today, I'll talk about dying people and life support. Dying means death. A dead person, who has brain death, you think do they need a life support? Should they be kept on life support or not? Most of states in the U. S. have a law that those people, when they are 65 or more go to the doctor, they have signed a documentation that tells what they want when they are in the dying ...
In any case, the physicians assistance is necessary (e.g. to prepare the medicine, to switch the artificial ventilation off, etc).
Euthanasia is divided into two main categories: passive and active. passive euthanasia is the statement of act when the patient stops medical treatment and other procedures. Active euthanasia is the statement of act when somebody undertakes special measures to end life. The dilemma of active and passive euthanasia is the dilemma of killing and allowing to die. Passive euthanasia assumes the form of prolonged painful dying, where the patient is deprived of analgesic and pain-killer treatment. However, why killing is immoral, and allowing to die is moral? Probably, it is better to distinct voluntary and involuntary euthanasia (Kamisar, 10).
The exchange of views concerning the legalization of euthanasia continues. However, more and more people seem to support the idea of legalization. The victory of a 43-year-old woman paralyzed from the neck down for more than a year (The right-to-die judgment, 2002), who got the permission of the UK Supreme Court to switch the life support system off, had great impact on formation of public opinion. According to the Gallup poll (1996), 75 per cent of the U.S. population stand for lawful medically assisted death (Public Support Rising for Assisted Suicide).
Now, what concerns the morality and the theological understanding of death within the frameworks of active and passive euthanasia, although the distinction might at times be difficult to discern, the two acts are widely and reasonably regarded as quite distinct (Medina, 133) Alternatives to Euthanasia In addition, there are some alternatives to euthanasia, such as palliative care, and hospices, to mention a few. Palliative care is used not only in situations when the physicians are unable to cure the disease, but also in order to improve quality of life at different stages of disease as well as during treatment of malignant diseases. The main principle of palliative care is the patients comfort.
The Essay on Methods Of Euthanasia People Die Life
Intentionally making someone die, rather than allowing that person to die naturally is the definition of euthanasia according to the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force (Euthanasia: Answer to Frequently Asked Questions, 1). This definition, itself, does not sound very appealing. The practice of euthanasia in any shape or form should never be legalized in the United States and should be banned ...
Hospice is a kind of medical institution for terminal patients. However, the term hospice has a negative shade of meaning and is often associated with asylum and second-best institutions. Conclusion Taking into account all information, we can make a conclusion that the way, by which our society chooses the kind of medical assistance rendered to the patient, is predetermined by a number of preconditions. Although it is difficult to dwell on morality of legalization or prohibition of euthanasia, the only thing I want to place emphasis on, is that every patient has right to control his own life. Works Cited Hudson, P. “Responding to desire to die statements from patients.” Palliative Medicine 2006 20 (2006): 703-710. Medina, Loreta M. Euthanasia. Detroit – New York: GreenHaven Press, n.d.
“Protect Life From Conception Until Natural Death.” Human Events 20 November 2006. “Public Support Rising for Assisted Suicide.” 15 April 1996. “The Death With Dignity Act: Overview of Oregon’s Physician-Assisted Suicide Law.” Supreme Court Debates (2005): 259. The right-to-die judgment. 22 March 2002. 25 April 2007 .
Y., Kamisar. Some Non-religious views against proposed “Mercy-killing” legislation / Moral Problems in Medicine. A practical Course book. Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 1999..
