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Assisted Suicide Case Study

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Euthanasia or ‘assisted suicide’ is the action of ending life to relieve incurable or extreme suffering and falls into three main categories; voluntary, involuntary and non-voluntary. Involuntary euthanasia occurs when euthanasia is performed on someone who is able to, but has not, given consent, this occurs in vary rare situations, and we therefore will concentrate on the other two main forms of euthanasia, voluntary and non-voluntary. Voluntary Euthanasia is consented by the patient; non-voluntary is not consented by the patient but by someone else, often by family or loved ones, when the patient is not able to give consent (i.e. Coma). The procedural classifications of euthanasia also fall into two categories, ‘Passive Euthanasia’ is the …show more content…

The recent case of 29-year-old American woman Brittany Maynard who is suffering from stage 4-brain cancer has made news after she publicised her choice to purse death with dignity. Her case has been so widespread due to her young age and confidence in her decision to end her life. Maynard is working in her last few months to publicise every humans right to chose when they die, and to avoid suffering. “I believe this is a healthcare right and choice that should be available to all terminally ill Americans,” she stated. Maynard moved to Oregon, one of only 5 states in America to have ‘Death with Dignity’ laws, in order to fulfil her …show more content…

Many people who hold this objection believe that some people, not just the terminally ill, but the elderly, or people suffering from non-terminal illness’ will feel pressure to end their life, however, should a law like Oregon’s ‘Death with Dignity’ law be legalised, we can see that this slip would not be possible as only the terminally ill would be eligible, and anyone seeking the treatment under pressure, would be deemed not fit to receive the drug by their attending

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