Introduction
by: Margaret
"Euthanasia" comes from the Greek. Eu, good and thanatos, death. It is defined as the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of terminally ill injured individuals in the name of mercy. In the 1990's it means doing something either positive or negative. There are three different types of Euthanasia, passive, active, assisted suicide.
(1)(1)Passive euthanasia occurs when lifesaving or prolonging medical treatment is withheld and the patient is allowed to die. Physicians and family members decide to discontinue any life prolonging treatments there by allowing nature to take it's course. The most common act of passive euthanasia is the removal of a respirator or feeding tubes on which a dying person is dependent.
Active euthanasia occurs when a physician or a family member takes the life of a patient before he or she dies naturally. For example, when a family member or physician gives a dying patient a lethal injection, the patient dies from a drug overdose, not from the disease or injury on their own.
Assited suicide occurs when a physician, family member, or friend helps a person who wishes to die but cannot complete the act alone, and needs help from a physician to give a lethal prescription or a family to decide a different form of suicide.
There are three different views of who might or should decide on the patient last few minutes of their lives. Physicians, family, and patients will be making this difficult choice.
(2)A terminally ill patient will likely first seek the help or advice of a physician. It is because physicians know what amount of drugs are lethal and how to give such drugs to ensure death and(2)prevent pain. In addition the physician knows their patients history of illness and knows what options are available to them. Many physicians feel that ending the suffering of terminally ill patients through assisted suicide is a compassionate act, but they feel "hypocritical" through values of public oath. Also, many physicians feel that it is their moral duty as doctors to carry out active euthanasia. Before physicians carry out euthanasia, they must follow these specific prescription. (3) 1) The patient must be clear and repeatedly request to die rather than continue suffering; 2) The patient's judgement must not ne distorted; 3) the patient must have a condition that is incurable illness; 4) and the most important a consultation with another doctor should take place.
(4)Hippocratic oath - before doctors begin to practice medicine they take a vow which states that they will never purposefully end a life.
Terminally ill patients will ask a family member or a close friend for comfort and to carry out passive euthanasia. Families of the terminally ill patients who no longer can make their own decisions will decide what to do. Should the medical treatment be withheld for the ill patient or active euthanasia be carries out. It is not always easy for a family member or close friend to participate in this act. For example, it is easy for a family to talk about death of a loved one from natural causes then to express their feelings in assisted death. Those who assist in euthanasia may feel that they have no one to share their experience with. It may even feel first as a regret, disappointment, anger and a deep dark secret that the family will live with themselves.
Individuals have the control over their own bodies and are capable of making their own decisions. Majority of patients desperately want to live and are hoping for a miracle. In many cases of terminally ill patients (one patient every two years is not in pain) with body parts eaten by cancer and other diseases are weeping for relief by requesting assisted suicide. That kind of plea is.. Please I have had enough.
As far as religion is concerned all faiths all over the world believe in one statement. "God is the
soul creator of life and has sovereign authority over life and death. To some, this principle may
seem cruel and unsympathetic, but it is, on the contrary, very respectful of the individual's needs
and dignity. No matter what the condition of a person's life, there is still value in it."
BACK TO COVER
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2. Euthanasia Opposing Viewpoints by Phyllis Taylor p. 141
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4. Euthanasia by Margaret Pabst Battin p.17