Many years ago, in a small town in Michigan, a woman by the name of Janet Adkins was diagnosed with

Today, there is a large debate over the situation and consequences of euthanasia. Euthanasia is the act of ending a human’s life by lethal injection or the stoppage of medication, or medical treatment. It has been denied by most of today’s population and is illegal in the fifty states of the United States. Usually, those who undergo this treatment have a disease or an “unbearable” pain somewhere in the body or the mind. Since there are ways, other than ending life, to stop pain caused by illness or depression, euthanasia is immoral, a disgrace to humanity, according to the Hippocratic Oath, and should be illegal throughout the United States.

The origins of the word ‘Euthanasia’ are Greek and translate to ‘easy death’. The definition of Euthanasia or 'dignified suicide' is the act of which one gets injected with a substance that will peacefully kill them. It's not euthanasia to give a drug in order to eliminate immediate pain, even though the drug causes the patient to die sooner. This is because the doctor wanted to relieve the pain, not to kill the patient. This is known as the Doctrine of Double effect.

After talks with her husband, sons, minister, and local doctors; Janet Adkins decided she didn¹t want to undergo the sustained mental deterioration that Alzheimer¹s Disease caused (Uhlman 111). She began to realize she had the disease when she started forgetting songs and failed to recognize notes as she played the piano (Filene 188). ³She read in Newsweek about Dr. Jack Kevorkian and his ŒMercitron¹ machine, then saw him on the ŒDonahue¹ Television show² (Filene 188). With her husband¹s consent but objections by sons and doctors, she telephoned him to arrange to kill herself (Filene 188). She still had a life expectancy of at least ten years with the illness, but she wished to die. She wanted to die before the disease robbed her of her

Physician assisted suicide refers to the voluntary termination of the life of a particular patient. It is conducted through administering a lethal substance with direct or indirect assistance from the physician. The case of physician-assisted suicide has caused many debates. Some doctors argue that it is unethical to participate in patient assisted suicide since it violates the fundamental principles of medical practice. It violates the Hippocratic Oath of doctors. This oath states that doctors should always act in the best interest of their patients. It implies that doctors should do everything possible to help their patients recover (Carr, 2010). It shows that participating in physician-assisted suicide is a wrongful act in this case. Some people also do not support physician-assisted suicide since they argue that it violates the principles that Christians adhere to. According to Catholic teachings, it is wrong to violate the commandment of Thou shall not kill (Carr, 2010). It shows that people should not participate in physician-assisted suicide since it is unethical. However, some people argue that it is ethical to practice physician-assisted suicide. It should be performed to patients who may be

Unfortunately situations arise where one only has two options. Miraculous situations happen every day by the Grace of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. So as human beings, how can one devalue the quality of life of another human being? The practice of Euthanasia and Physician assisted suicide does exactly that; Euthanasia is the intentional ending of one’s life by killing a person for the benefit of that person meanwhile, physician assisted suicide occurs when a physician provides a competent patient with a prescription for medication for the patient to use with the intent of ending his or her own life(Batten 1). The word euthanasia simply means an easy or painless death (eu meaning well, thanatos meaning death). Euthanasia was first

Physician-assisted suicide is defined as the patient’s willingness to end his or her own life with the help of a clinician. The clinician may participate by relaying detailed information on the best way to commit the suicide or by prescribing pills that are of lethal doses. He or she may also be physically of help when the patient commits the act by assisting the patient in setting up medical procedures that cause euthanasia. This form of death became widely popular when the media caught wind of Dr. Kevorkian’s different methods of participation. He helped more than “130 terminally ill patients commit suicide between the years of 1990 and 1998” (McLellan, 2011). When his actions caught

Jack Kevorkian, the assisted suicide advocate died at the age of 83 on June 3, 2011. Supporters say he was a compassionate caregiver who paid a severe penalty for helping chronically ill patients end their suffering. Critics, however, say Kevorkian’s compassion clouded his ethical physician responsibility. He first captured the public’s attention in 1990 when he put a needle in the arm of Janet Atkins. Although this needle did end her life, his compassion, considered clouded by critics, spared her from the painful progression of her Alzheimer’s disease (Hulett, 2011). On the day of his death, Lessenberry stated “It will be very interesting 50 years from now to see whether Kevorkian is regarded by history as this sort of a bizarre crank or whether he'll be regarded as a modern medical pioneer (as cited in Hulett 2011).

Imagine receiving the news that you have cancer. There is no known cure, so death is inevitable – it is just a matter of when. Dying a strong, healthy person is better than dying weak and helpless. A doctor prescribing drugs to speed the time in which someone will die is a simple solution for many problems that can come with being hospitalized. An assisted suicide involves a person with a terminal illness ending his or her own life with the use of prescribed pills. Seeing the controversy of assisted suicide has been a common occurrence in the news since the 1990s. One man in particular, Jack Kevorkian – a supporter of the practice, was sentenced to eight years in prison for murder. He had assisted more than one hundred people in committing

Euthanasia and/or physician-assisted suicide has been widely talked about. While there are many pros and cons to the issue, I think it’s best to look at it as a subjective relativist. Every case is different and should be treated as such. What might work for some won’t necessarily work for others. I generally believe that the option should be open with some exceptions. I will be using both terms interchangeably, however it is important to note that Euthanasia is when a doctor directly kills the patient, while physician-assisted suicide is when the doctor prescribes drugs that the patient chooses to take on their own. I find both morally equivalent.

Dr.Jack Kevorkian was A Famous physician who helped numerous patients to commit suicide. According to the article entitled “Assisted suicide right to die proponents split” I learned that “Mr. Kevorkian became national when he first helped 54-year old Janet Adkins kill herself with his hand made death machine through lethal injection” (Tim Devaney,1)

The way that Euthanasia works is that it is, “performed by the attending physician administering a fatal dose of a suitable drug to the patient on his or her express request.” (Euthanasia) The word Euthanasia derives from the Greek words, Eu (good) and Thanatosis (death), it means “Good Death” or “Gentle and Easy Death”. The earliest recordings of the use of the word was by Suetonius, a Roman historian, in his De Vita Caesarum - Divus Augustus in order to describe the death of Augustus. Despite this the first use in a medical context was used by Francis Bacon within the 17th century, as a reference to an easy, painless, and happy death. During which it was a “physician’s responsibility to alleviate the physical sufferings of the body”. (life.org) Euthanasia is a rejection of the importance and value of human life. With euthanasia no one’s life is being saved – life is only taken.

Euthanasia is assisted suicide, helping someone to end their own life when they are suffering from a terminal or debilitating illness. When thinking about euthanasia the popular physician Dr. Jack Kevorkian comes to mind, this doctor was jailed for helping one hundred and thirty patients to end their lives by administering a concoction of powerful medications S. Tanenbaum (2015). This case had sparked widespread controversy and debate about ethical and legal ramifications of helping patients to end their life. Ultimately Dr. Jack Kevorkian was convicted of murdering one patient and was sentenced to eight years in prison for his crime S. Tanenbaum (2015). I think if someone is facing a painful and dramatically life altering illness that will

A mentally competent patient who is capable of giving informed consent should be allowed to seek assistance in ending his or her life if he or she is not able to do so independently. Physicians should be allowed to help patients without the threat of facing homicide charges. Jack Kevorkian helped many patients who were either dying or greatly suffering to end their lives by providing them with either a carbon monoxide mask or an injection of a lethal dose. Although he was imprisoned due to second-degree murder charges, Kevorkian never ended his fight towards trying to legalize euthanasia and uphold a person’s autonomy. Mair and Schmidt both write about the implications of euthanasia and assistive suicide, and how the principles of autonomy, beneficence, and consequentialism apply to these cases. Physicians are morally correct in helping patients end their lives if this means the physician is helping to end unbearable pain and suffering, and if the patient is mentally competent to give informed

From the view of Christianity, physician-assisted suicide should not be permitted because it is against God’s will. PAS is reducing of human values, especially for old people. PAS makes those people have the wrong understanding, such as when they think they are too old and they cannot do anything for their society, they feel they are useless. But in the view of Christianity, death is not the end; death is the place to start a new life. Human values not only depend on what can be made out under the view of society; it also depends on the prayer every day, to make inside the soul becomes more beautiful. In the denomination, it teaches that human’s life would only ends according to God’s determination since life is God’s sacred gift for all human. According to Edgar R. Lee “We simply feel that it is not our prerogative to end life, the church does not frown on the use of pain medication to alleviate suffering, even in cases where it might contribute to hastening death”, ( qtd . Religious Groups’ Views on End-of-Life Issues). I am a Catholic person and I strongly agreed: Nobody has the power to take life of oneself or others because no one is the owner of one’s life.

Euthanasia is a major ethical topic all around the world. Euthanasia is the deliberate killing of a person for the benefit of that person. In most cases euthanasia is carried out because the person who dies asks for it, but there are cases in euthanasia where people are unconscious, in a coma or unstable and can’t make that decision. Some people focus on how people should die without pain and if someone wants to be injected they should be allowed. Other people believe that it is against the law and religiously wrong so you shouldn’t do it.