What Is Voluntary Active Euthanasia?

Euthanasia is the practice of ending the life of an individual for the purposes of relieving pain and suffering. Over the years, there has been a big debate about its merits and demerits, and the debate is not about to end anytime soon. However, no matter what side of the debate one supports, it is important to consider a few facts. One, the prolonged stay in hospital is bound to raise medical costs. Two, some medical complications bring suffering and pain to the patient without any possibility of getting back to one 's normal activities of daily living. However, ending the life of a person intentionally may be treated as a serious crime in some jurisdictions. Given these facts, it is evident that making a decision about euthanasia is bound to be a challenging task. Although not everyone might agree, euthanasia is a necessary procedure that relieves the pain and suffering of the patient and rids the family and the government of expensive medical costs that would not necessary improve the life of the patient.

Active and passive euthanasia has been a controversial topic for many decades. Medicine has become so advanced, even the most ill patients can be kept alive by artificial means. Active euthanasia is a deliberate action taken to end a person’s life, such as lethal dose of medication (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). Passive euthanasia is allowing a person to die by not intervening or stopping a treatment that is keeping them alive (Garrard, 2014). There are three main arguments within this issue; Firstly, in the healthcare setting, it is morally accepted to allow a patient to die but purposely killing a patient is not (Garrard, 2014). Secondly, some people believe there is no moral difference between passive and active euthanasia.

Euthanasia, as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is considered to be, “the act or practice of killing someone who is very sick or injured in order to prevent any more suffering” (2015).Within this can be found different methods of euthanasia including passive or indirect euthanasia which requires withholding of basic life-saving measures such as oxygen, nutrition, hydration, or resuscitation. Another form is direct euthanasia which can be caused by administered drugs, injections, or suffocation. In its entirety, euthanasia has been debated as an ethical issue through its many forms and reasoning (Methods of euthanasia, 2011).

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

Voluntary Euthanasia has been considered a controversial topic for many decades. The idea of committing an act that involves the taking of human life is not one that many people would care to discuss openly. The main argument is that a person who has been diagnosed with an incurable illness and is in extreme pain and their ability to move has been limited, while that person still has control over their destiney should they be allowed take their own life (Bowie, R.2001). The worldwide debate weather one should be allowed to end a life is still one of the biggest ethical issues. The attempt to providing the rights of the individual is in conflict with the moral values of society. Voluntary Euthanasia has been highly rejected by many religious and pro-life institutions.

Active euthanasia should be permitted as a medical treatment to allow people the right to die with dignity without pain and in peace. Euthanasia, also known as assisted suicide or mercy killing, takes on many different forms. When most Americans think of euthanasia, they think of a specific form that is referred to as “active euthanasia” which means to actively do something that will end a patient’s life with or without that individual’s consent. When euthanasia is performed in an involuntary manner it is usually because the patient is comatose, unconscious, or otherwise unable to communicate whether or not they want to have their life prolonged through artificial means. In such cases, the physician makes an

Active euthanasia is a subject that is raising a lot of concern in today’s society on whether or not it should be legalized and under what circumstances should it be allowed. This is a very tricky subject due to its ability to be misused and abused. There are a wide variety of things that need to be considered when it comes to who should be allowed to request active euthanasia such as, is it an autonomous choice, do they have a terminal illness, is their quality of life dramatically decreased, and are they in pain and suffering. Both James Rachel and Daniel Callahan have very different opinions on active euthanasia and whether or not it should be allowed. However both authors manage to provide a substantial argument on where they stand regarding active euthanasia.

Can you imagine that you are lying in bed and feeling extreme pain, caused by disease, and you cannot do anything to stop it? No one would like to find themselves in such circumstances. Unfortunately, not every person spends the last days or weeks of life in a peaceful manner. Instead, there is a possibility of “uncontrolled physical agony and emotional distress” (Bruce and Boston 1). One of the ways of preventing suffering at the end of life is mercy killing, or euthanasia. There are two types of euthanasia – voluntary and involuntary. Involuntary, or passive euthanasia, occurs when a person is not able to give permission for his or her death, e.g. if the person is in a comatose condition; voluntary euthanasia is performed with a help of

Euthanasia is the killing of a patient who is painfully suffering with the help of a doctor. The classifications of euthanasia are voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary euthanasia is the consent of the patient and involuntary is the consent by another person because the patient is unable to do it themselves. There are also two procedures known as passive and active. Passive euthanasia is when the doctor stops doing something that will keep the patient alive. Active euthanasia is when the doctor does something that will cause the patient to die. Many people believe that passive is more acceptable than active. Active is more a controversial issue due to religious and ethical beliefs. Euthanasia passive and active should be legal everywhere because it gives the patient the right to choose, give them dignity, does not harm others, and helps stop their suffering.

Before analysing the link between ethical theories and euthanasia, euthanasia and the current legal stance must first be defined and evaluated. As stated by Christian Nordqvist. (2010), euthanasia can be defined as “a deliberate action with the express intention of ending a life to relieve intractable suffering”. Society most widely views euthanasia as the “intentional hastening of death by a terminally ill patient with assistance from another person”.

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

“Euthanasia is defined as a deliberate act undertaken by one person with the intention of ending life of another person to relieve that person 's suffering and where the act is the cause of death.”(Gupta, Bhatnagar and Mishra) Many people believe this as a mercy killing. Euthanasia may be voluntary, non voluntary and involuntary. When a terminally ill patient wants to end his or her life, it is called voluntary euthanasia. Non voluntary euthanasia occurs when the suffering person never wanted nor requested to end their life. Non voluntary euthanasia happens when a patient is in a persistent vegetative state, comatose state, or has mental conditions. Involuntary euthanasia is conducted when treatments of such are against the will of the patient. Euthanasia can be either passive or active. Passive euthanasia means life sustaining treatments are not given and nothing is done to keep the patient alive. “Active euthanasia occurs when a physician does something by giving drugs or substances that ends a patient’s life”. (Medical News Today)

Euthanasia, which is also referred to as mercy killing, is the act of ending someone’s life either passively or actively, usually for the purpose of relieving pain and suffering. “All forms of euthanasia require an intention to accelerate death in order to benefit patients experiencing a poor quality of life” (Sayers, 2005). It is a highly controversial subject that often leaves a person with mixed emotions and beliefs. Opinions regarding this topic hinge on the health and mental state of the victim as well as method of death. It raises legal issues as well as the issue of morals and ethics. Euthanasia is divided into two different categories, passive euthanasia and active euthanasia. “There are unavoidable uncertainties in both active and

Currently, there is many conflicting opinions of whether euthanasia is morally right or wrong in society. This act of euthanasia is used on patients to end their suffering of terminal illnesses. It is sometimes requested but also, being that there is multiple types such as voluntary, involuntary, Nonvoluntary, active, and passive euthanasia, in some cases is given without the patient’s actual request and consent. In some ways, it has seemed to become an alternative for people who are suffering and feel they have no other options. Although some may argue that euthanasia is a gift that should be a choice given all around the United States for people to

The term euthanasia is often associated with veterinarians and people’s pets. Euthanasia in humans is for more complicated; patients have direct input in their death whereas pet do not. A more in-depth definition of euthanasia is the voluntary death of a patient which is conducted by a medical physician by lethal injection (Stolz et al. 2015, p. 2). Physician-assisted suicide is where the patient chooses kills themselves, but they are unable to carry out the process; the patient depends on the doctor strictly for help in completing the action. The patient also has the ability to change their decision; they remain the individual who made the original decision and none of blame is placed on practitioner (Kuře, 2011, p. 128). Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide has been the topic of ethical debates for years and medical personnel have been in the center of this national controversy.