ROOTS MILLENIUM SCHOOLS
Euthanasia: Interfering with life and death?
Amal Sikandar Ranjha
Table of Contents
1. Introduction………………………………………………………….. 3
2. Thesis……………………………………………………………………. 4
3. Types of euthanasia………………………………………………. 4
4. Literature…………….……………………………………………….. 5
5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………….. 7
6. Acknowledgements……………………………………………….. 7 Introduction
From cloning to genetically modified food to designer babies, humans have long been known to interfere with the way nature does things; humans have been modifying genes and improving the outlook in the pretext that it improves the quality of our lives. Humans also have a long history of interfering with and trying to control the more divine
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Voluntary Euthanasia:
Voluntary Euthanasia is the one in which the consent of the patient is usually taken and all actions are taken with the permission of the patient. The term is also referred to as ‘assisted suicide’ at times. This kind of euthanasia is legal in some countries.
2. Non-voluntary Euthanasia:
The second type of Euthanasia is Non-voluntary Euthanasia. It is when the life of the sufferer is taken without proper consent. This kind of Euthanasia is frowned upon in many countries over the world.
3. Involuntary Euthanasia:
The third and probably the most horrible type of Euthanasia is Involuntary Euthanasia. It is carried out without taking consent and it is usually against the will of the patient. This is even sometimes considered as a murder; therefore, it is illegal in all countries.
The above-mentioned types of Euthanasia can be further divided into two more major parts: Active and Passive Euthanasia. The hastening of the death of a person by active procedures such as deliberately overdosing on a medicine is known as Active Euthanasia. On the other hand, Passive Euthanasia is when death to a patient is brought by an omission. It is when the treatment necessary for the continuance of life is brought to an end. For example, ventilators or life support
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The prevalent human ethics have made this topic enormous and highly controversial to its core. People around the globe have opposing views as to what Euthanasia is, and whether it should be allowed or should the practitioners of euthanasia be punished. The National Health Service in the UK has declared it illegal to help someone take their life whatever the circumstances may be.
The one name that comes up most frequently when talking about Euthanasia is Dr. Jack Kevorkian, also sometimes referred to as Dr. Death. He made it his mission to travel across the United States of America, at his own expense, to help the people who considered that their lives were not worth living anymore and assist them in committing suicide. Most of the times, due to extensive suffering, most patients simply give up; with no hope left, they start to believe that the only way out of interminable pain and discomfort is to give up on their lives. Utter hopelessness makes them highly vulnerable and at the same time impulsive too. So, they easily fall victim to the temptation of ending up their own lives with just little assistance from people like Dr.
When a patient is terminally ill or is experiencing extreme pain, often Euthanasia or Assisted Suicide can both be plausible options to end any suffering. Euthanasia is currently legalized in seven countries and parts of the United States (New Health Guide). This number is not likely to increase soon because of the high controversy, which is due to the very serious topic of this matter: a person 's life. The general process of these medical methods is usually understood as a doctor somehow deliberately causing the death of a patient or helping with their suicide. Many believe that it is unethical and violates laws, oaths, and more. Though people believe this, it is truly unethical to not give a person a choice in the manner in which they will perish.
Euthanasia, formally known as mercy killing, is the act of intentionally causing the painless death of a sick person, rather than allowing that person to die naturally. In terms of a physician's actions, it can be passive in that a physician plays no direct role in the death of the person or it can be active in that the physician does something directly to cause the death (Yount, 2002). Euthanasia may also be formed into three types of act, which are voluntary, involuntary, and nonvoluntary. Voluntary involves killing the patient at his or her request. Involuntary occurs when the patient does not give consent, or refuses. Nonvoluntary is where the patient is not able to make the decision about their medical treatment so it is up to a third
There are multiple types of physician assisted suicide. Collectively, they fall under the categories: active or passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is when someone steps in and deliberately ends a life. An example of this would be a physician administering a lethal dose of muscle relaxants to end the life of a patient. Passive euthanasia is best described as when a patient withdraws from a life preserving treatment. Euthanasia in general can also be classified as either voluntary, non-voluntary, and involuntary. Voluntary euthanasia is when a person makes the conscious decision to end his or her life. Non-voluntary euthanasia is when a person is unable to give their consent, and another person makes this decision on their behalf. This usually is the case for patients who are in a coma who have previously expressed this wish. Involuntary euthanasia is when a person is killed against their wishes. Involuntary euthanasia is almost always considered
Involuntary euthanasia occurs when a medical provider or some other person administers a lethal dose of a drug to a patient without the patient’s specific request. Euthanasia is done at the hand of the doctor not the patient.
Another type of active euthanasia is “active voluntary euthanasia (AVE) whereby, upon request by the patient, the physician ends the patient’s life through direct action (e.g., injecting a lethal dose of a drug into a patient)” (Leming & Dickinson, 2016) and it is illegal to practice in the United States. Dr. Kevorkian, the famous euthanasia activist and physician was convicted of second degree homicide in 1999, for administering a lethal dose of medication to Thomas Youk, a 52 year old man in the end stages of Lou Gehrigs disease, at the patients request.
Euthanasia is categorized in various forms. The first category deals with the patient’s consent. Voluntary euthanasia refers to a patient making the voluntary enduring demand to be assisted with the procedure of assisted suicide while involuntary euthanasia is ending the patient’s life without their consent or awareness. Euthanasia is also categorized in the approach the patient’s life was ended. Active euthanasia is ending a patient’s life by the use of drugs with or without the aid of a physician. Passive euthanasia is terminating a patient’s life by disregarding the necessary actions to maintain life such as withdrawing water, food, drugs, medical and surgical procedures. While passive euthanasia is legal in Canada, active euthanasia is considered murder and is illegal.
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
There are two types of Euthanasia. The first, Passive Euthanasia is the death of a person by removing life support equipment, stop taking medication, or not eating and drinking which allows the person
There are many classifications of life ending decision on the basis of the person involved, whether or not it is legal and so on. The different classifications are very much similar to one another and can be confused as assisted suicide. Different life ending decision includes assisted suicide, voluntary or involuntary active euthanasia, voluntary or involuntary passive euthanasia and non-voluntary euthanasia (Cassity, 2009). Voluntary active euthanasia is similar to active suicide, but in this other person is the one who does the death causing act. When the person has intension to die and he/she refuses the life sustaining medical treatment, it is known as voluntary passive euthanasia. When another person is the cause of patient death without the consent and will of the patient, it is known as involuntary active euthanasia. If another person withholds or withdraw life-sustaining medical treatment against the patient’s will think it is involuntary passive euthanasia. Non-voluntary euthanasia is also known as mercy killing. It is conducted when the patient is not able to give consent because the person is in a vegetative state or is incompetent to give consent (Cassity, 2009).
Euthanasia or Physician-assisted suicide as some call it has been done for centuries. The controversy of this has also existed since those times. Back in Greek and roman times as today regular suicide, as in a person who is not dying or incapacitated, was not accepted and I agree but that’s a whole different topic. But back in
There are 3 different types of euthanasia. Volantary - which means that the doctor, or whoever performed the assisted death got full permission from the patient to kill them. Nonvolantary - without full consent of the patient or if the patient did give them their full consent, they weren’t fully decisionally-competent. And Involantary - this is when the person is killed against their will, they refuse to die but they are still killed. This Is murder!
Euthanasia debate opposes two sides in which one side argues that letting someone suffer is not ethical and the other side defend that to help someone to die is not ethical based on the morality that no one should kill or help someone to die (fundamental right that everyone is allowed to live), they judge that euthanasia should compromise the criminal code. For my own morality, I am for the euthanasia possibility for the people in need to die for the reason of the person’s well-being.
Euthanasia is the act of a physician or other third party ending a patient's life in response to severe pain and suffering. Euthanasia can be classified into three types. They are voluntary euthanasia, non-voluntary euthanasia and involuntary euthanasia. Involuntary euthanasia is the action that takes the patient’s life without any informed consent of the patient but the patient may want to live.
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.
“Nonvoluntary euthanasia” sounds like it would mean the same thing as involuntary euthanasia, but it does not. Like involuntary euthanasia, nonvoluntary euthanasia is requested by someone other than the patient, such as family members or a physician, and is performed without the patient’s consent (Pojman). However, the difference is that nonvoluntary euthanasia occurs when the patient’s wishes are unknown instead of acting deliberately against their wishes. In my opinion, it would be difficult to argue favorably for the morality of nonvoluntary active euthanasia. If the patient’s wishes are unknown, how can we as a society accept that they should be intentionally killed by nonvoluntary active euthanasia? How