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According to the Oxford dictionary, euthanasia is defined as the painless killing of a patient

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According to the Oxford dictionary, euthanasia is defined as the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or an irreversible coma. Those in favor argue that this is done motivated by kindness and a desire to end suffering. Those against Euthanasia understand why those in favor of Euthanasia say it is ok to practice it, but one must understand that Euthanasia is contrary to the Hippocratic Oath. According to the Hippocratic Oath doctors should never, “give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art” (par. 4). This oath is taken by all doctors after …show more content…

They can easily kill someone and say they were asked to do it, because they “had to do it”, or because it was an “accident”. In many cases people will ask to be killed in a painless manner even though they do not have a terminal illness. This was the case in 1994 when a woman couldn’t deal with the fact that she had lost two sons, and Dr. Boudewijn Chabot helped her commit suicide (Drake). In Belgium euthanasia is accepted, and in April 2012 the European Institute of Bioethics released a ten year report on euthanasia in this country. EIB reported that from 2003 to 2011 the annual figures of declared cases of euthanasia rose significantly from 235 to 1133. In 9% of those cases, death was not a possibility in the upcoming six months (3). On October 28, 2010 a private member bill was submitted to the Chamber of Representative “to offer the possibility of euthanasia to patients who are incapacitated and suffering from dementia” (EIB 4). This can bring a series of problems; people will think they are coherent and will decide to end their lives based on a “rationalized conclusion,” when in reality they are making a poor decision because of an unbearable pain. Even those countries that approve the use euthanasia have problems regulating it. In Delft, Netherlands Dr. Pieter V. Admiraal admitted he gave his patients a fatal injection. He was accused of performing euthanasia more than 100 times, and was only prosecuted once; his charges were cleared (Urofsky 111-112).

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