Ironically, before Dr., Kevorkian deliberately forced the hand of prosecutors by crossing the line between advice and action, all his prior involvement in assisting terminally ill patients to end their lives precisely demonstrated many of the very ethical principles that would be crucial to the application of laws to the physician's role in the choice to end one's life (Humphry, 2002).
Kevorkian restricted his efforts in that regard to patients who were already suffering from terminal illness; he eliminated clinical depression or other medical or psychological conditions known to cause suicidal desires; he interviewed patients extensively along with their families, he reviewed their medical histories carefully to confirm diagnoses; and he very specifically documented his patients' expressed desires in writing as well as on videotape in the presence of witnesses (Humphry, 2002).
Undoubtedly, the decision to end one's life is one of the most serious decisions that any person can make, both because it is irreversible,...
Assisted suicide is a suicide committed by someone with assistance from someone other than themselves, many times a Physician. Assisted suicide is typically delivered by lethal injection. The drugs are setup and provided to the patient and the patient has the choice as to when they deliver them by pressing a button themselves. This is a controversial topic that has both proponents and opponents for various the reasons. The most
Again, my rebuttal to this argument is that proponents of euthanasia are not trigger-happy killers. Any legal request for euthanasia would have to be processed for validity by qualified doctors. Any signs of depression would be properly treated and a reasonable "cooling-off period" be provided to the patients to change their minds. Only a bare-minimum number of patients who are suffering without any chance of relief and only those
This has sparked many debates in social and political arenas in regards to personhood, self-determination and human autonomy. Any time a person wants to intentionally end his or her life, it is considered suicide. Suicide, in itself is now legal (Manning, 1998), but proponents of euthanasia argue that suicide may not be an option for the terminally ill, the hospitalized or physically disabled. These people may not have the strength
Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, as what the most common definition says, is the (medical) process of killing somebody in a merciful manner and is aimed at putting an end to that person's pain and suffering. The claimed justification for euthanasia first takes the moral high ground of compassion. When a truer form of compassion is found in palliative care, the ground shifts to an appeal to human rights, especially to the
Euthanasia There can be little doubt that most humans cherish life to the extent that they would choose immortality in a heartbeat, if that option was ever made available. However, while this observation may undoubtedly be true, there is an unstated qualification. And, that is, that humans will choose life only as long as it is imbued with dignity and vitality. In fact, the importance of this qualification is reflected in
Euthanasia The foremost contentious concern lately has been the issue of granting legal status to the right to die with dignity, or euthanasia. Similar to the issue of death sentence or suicide, euthanasia is contentious as it entails killing an individual through a conscious decision. (The right to a dignified death - need for debate) "Euthanasia" derived from the Greek term implying "good death" is some activity we perform or otherwise
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