EUTHANASIA
Euthanasia--what does this word mean? It comes from the Greek words "eu" and "thantos" which translate to "good death" ("Euthanasia World Directory," www.efn.org/~ergo/). Though this is the very literal meaning, it has become a more complex concept in our current society. Assisted suicide, self-deliverance, auto euthanasia, aid-in-dying are all terms that deal with the choice of achieving a good death; the choice of deciding for oneself when it is time to escape unimaginable pain and have the chance to die with the dignity we all deserve.
According to the Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization (ERGO!) there are two main forms of suicide ("Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization," www.finalexit.org). One is "emotional
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The other case is if the person has a grave physical handicap which is so restricting that the individual cannot, even after due consideration, counseling, and re-training, tolerate such a limited existence ("The Verbal Battle Over Euthanasia," www.religioustolerance.org). This is a fairly rare reason for suicide since most people learn to cope with their situation, but there are some who would, at a certain point, rather die.
Since, at the current time, assisted suicide is not widely legal there are no laws giving the ethical parameters. The public often thinks that since regular suicide has no rules or restrictions, neither does assisted suicide. This is incorrect.
Most every "suicide bill" currently trying to gain approval shares several guidelines that must be met before the suicide may be preformed. The person must be a mature adult. This is essential. The exact age depends on the individual, but the person should not be a minor who comes under quite different laws ("The Verbal Battle Over Euthanasia," www.religioustolerance.org). The person must have clearly made a considered decision. Currently, an individual has the ability to indicate this with a "Living Will" and can also, in today's more open and tolerant society, freely discuss the option of euthanasia with health professionals, family, lawyers, etc. Also, the euthanasia cannot be carried out at the first knowledge of a life-threatening illness, and reasonable medical help
be fed orally because of blistering in the mouth and throat. Any movement of the
Additionally, the term “euthanasia” does not mean the same thing as assisted suicide. Often people confuse these processes when they differ immensely. Despite this, they remain similar in their resulting death of a human life through the help of a physician. Euthanasia is the direct killing of a patient by a physician by means of lethal injection and it is completely controlled by the doctor. On the other hand, patients in assisted suicide have full control over the process that leads to their death. For this reason, procedures of these sorts must be eliminated as medical treatments and should not be authorized. Consequently, physician assisted suicide has been proven to lead to euthanasia in some cases. Assisted suicide should become illegal in all fifty states of the United States of America because it raises religious concern, endorses legalized murder, puts vulnerable people at risk of abuse, and
Assisted Suicide/ Euthanasia is wrong and should not be allowed to be a law. Families shouldn’t have to go through that pain of their family member killing themselves because they hate the pain they are going through. The pain will go away with time and there is medicine for any kind of pain. There are some people who believe that there should be a choice for people who are in pain and they should have that choice because they want what they think is best for themselves. However, there are people who take Assisted Suicide/ Euthanasia to the extreme and people who “have pain” use it and they use it for the wrong reason. Many people don’t think this is a necessary reason for killing yourself. Studies show that there is a great amount of people who suffer from pain or depression that commit suicide(Why Assisted Suicide). Dr. Eli Robbins found that 47% of those committing suicide were diagnosed with schizophrenic panic disorders and
Suicide is intentionally causing your own death out of despair. It is considered a behavior and may result from a form of mental illness, but is not classified as a distinct psychiatric disorder. It can stem from different factors such as personal, social, financial or historical well-being. ("Mental health and wellness," 2013)
Though one is not a supporter of euthanasia and/or assisted suicide, circumstances can easily influence the choice to undertake. However, one should not advocate or condone assisted suicide just because a patient feels they should die. The option of assisted suicide (Physician Assisted Suicide) should be left for terminally ill patients, whose death is expected to be slow and painful both to the patient and family around them.
To fully understand the issue at hand, one must understand the various forms of euthanasia. The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition defines euthanasia as “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals…in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy.” Euthanasia can be either passive or active. Passive euthanasia occurs when a patient is relieved of medical treatment and is allowed to die naturally. Active euthanasia occurs when either a physician or a family member actively takes the life of the patient, perhaps through lethal injection, and eliminates a natural death process. Many people commonly use the word “euthanasia” to refer to assisted suicide. Essentially, assisted suicide is a form of active euthanasia in that a person, usually a physician, aids in the suicide of a patient.
Laws vary differently across the U.S. and one in particular is only available in Washington state, Physician-Assisted Suicide Law. The law allows people that have been diagnosed as terminally ill to have the option of medical assisted suicide. It allows the patient to go through a process of requests to be prescribed a lethal dose of medication to die peacefully and without pain. The law protects doctors from being criminally prosecuted by the family for abiding the ill family member with the requested drug. The law can be used across the whole country because I do believe that death shouldn’t have to be painful, as long as the estate is ready and the person is of sound mind, it can be an option should be available to those individuals. The
There are common arguments that speak against assisted suicide, some believe that it will become an ethical dilemma if it’s fully legalized. Even so, there would obviously be guidelines if this act was approved, “However, I’m not so concerned about the slippery slope. I think we can put safeguards in place, as we’ve done
For the sake of uniformity we will look at the federal government in this matter, as well as solely focusing on people who are terminally ill and wish to die by their own means, in a dignified manner. As I stated, the Supreme Court upheld in 1997 that assisted suicide ought to be criminalized, as well as asserting that people do not have a “right to die” (The Kevorkian Verdict). With that said, despite a few state outliers, if an individual is in a circumstance where they wish to die, they have no other option than to take the matter into their own hands. Methods of suicide contain firearm, strangulation or suffocation, falling or jumping, and poisoning or drug overdoses, all ranging in effectiveness (NSPL).
The most commonly known forms are passive and active euthanasia. Passive is when a patient refuses life saving medical treatment, and active is when lethal medication is injected into the patient. Euthanasia itself is “intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit” (Batten 398-400). Assisted suicide is when “someone provides an individual with the information, guidance, and means to take his or her own life with the intention that they be used for this purpose” (Batten 398-400). Physician-assisted suicide is when a doctor is the one who assists, such as by prescribing a lethal dose of medication. Assisted Suicide is legal in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont, and New Mexico. New regulations were brought about when these states legalized assisted suicide. Specifically, you must make two oral request and one written one, two doctors must be convinced that the decision is voluntarily, and you must be over eighteen (Batten
Assisted suicide, whose life is it? In reality it is the person’s life, and if they are suffering from a terminal illness they should get to choose whether or not they want to suffer. One very aggressive form of a terminal illness is the Glioblastoma Multiforme. This type of brain tumor is more common than a person may think it is also very deadly (Markert). Who is to say a person can’t end their terminal illness, pain, and suffering? They are just like every other human being who wants to die with dignity.
I would like to begin by defining the issue of the article by Patrick Nowell-Smith. The issue of his article is legalizing euthanasia and giving people a right to decide when and how to die.
This has three subgroups: Nonvoluntary euthanasia, which is done when the patient is incapable of deciding, involuntary euthanasia, which is done to end the suffering of a capable patient, and voluntary euthanasia, which is done at the patients request (Yount). A broader term many people assign these two acts to is suicide. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines suicide as “the act of killing yourself because you do not want to continue living.” Euthanasia is a form of suicide, but the two differ in their motives for death.
First of all, what is euthanasia? It is something that not many people think about until they or a friend or family member is put in a position where they might actually have to consider it. Euthanasia, in the dictionary, simply is: the action of ending someone’s life in a painless way. It seems pretty simple but in reality it is a lot more complicated, not only for the people involved but for the society in general as well.
Euthanasia is the practice of ending an individual's life in order to relieve them from an incurable disease or unbearable suffering. The term euthanasia is derived from the Greek word for "good death" and originally referred to as “intentional killing” ( Patelarou, Vardavas, Fioraki, Alegakis, Dafermou, & Ntzilepi, 2009). Euthanasia is a controversial topic which has raised a great deal of debate globally. Although euthanasia has received great exposure in the professional media, there are some sticky points that lack clarity and need to be addressed. Euthanasia is a divisive topic, and different interpretations of its meaning, depend on whether the person supports it or not. While a few societies have accepted euthanasia, there are