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Euthanasia Is A Medical Act Of A Physician Or Any Other Person?

Decent Essays

Euthanasia is defined as the act of a physician or any other person intentionally killing a person by the administration of drugs, at that person’s voluntary and competent request. It is a
‘mercy killing’ which means to take a deliberate action aimed at ending a life to relieve intractable suffering or persisted pain. (Emanuel et al) Euthanasia could also be interpreted as the practice of ending a life painlessly. Euthanasia is technical description of the act regarding the process that is usually used. Euthanasia usually involves the injection of a barbiturate to induce coma. An injection of a neuromuscular relaxant is then administered to prevent respiration thus making the patient succumb to their aliment. From a philosophical point of view, euthanasia makes human life a means to ends suffering since human life has to be forfeited in the act of euthanasia to end suffering. From the medical point of view, euthanasia is a medical act whereby a person is injected with lethal drugs. It is not a medical treatment or therapy, the core intention of the physician is to alleviate and cure, but not to end life (Chell, 2014).
Assisted suicide on the other hand is defined as the act of a person intentionally helping another person to end his or her life at that person’s voluntary and competed request. For assisted suicide, the authority of action lies with the person who wants to end his or her life unlike in euthanasia where the authority lies with the person administering the

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