¶ … euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide on ReligiousTolerance.org, most people in North America die "a bad death," one characterized by pain, being unable to participate in their medical treatment program, or after spending over ten days in intensive care. A prevailing belief that any sign of life is preferable to death fuels arguments against the practice of voluntary euthanasia, distinguished from involuntary euthanasia in that the suicide is requested directly by the person in question. Euthanasia is one of the most controversial subjects in medial ethics today. On one side of the argument, organizations like the Hemlock Society have pushed for legislation that permits physician-assisted suicide (PAS). These efforts have met with a degree of success in the United States; in 1994 Oregon passed the Death with Dignity Act allowing PAS. However, there is even a distinction between voluntary euthanasia and PAS: with PAS, the physician simply provides the means with which a patient, usually terminally ill, can end his or her life. Voluntary euthanasia, on the other hand, can entail a "deliberate intervention, by someone other than the person whose life is at stake," in the suicide (Gula 2). Detractors of voluntary euthanasia often oppose the act on religious grounds but often the controversy is practical in approach as well. Ending a life prematurely entails an interference with the "will of God" or it might mean the denial of a potential recovery. However, most cases of voluntary euthanasia truly deserve the term "death with dignity," as the practice provides a safe, pain-free, personally empowering way to confront our inevitable mortality. Sometimes opponents of voluntary euthanasia take a non-religious approach...
For example, Kristen Leutwyler notes that most often, women are the "victims" of assisted suicide, indicating that some euthanasia deaths might not be fully voluntary. In fact, some studies indicate that "Only about a third of the victims described as sick had terminal illnesses," (Leutwyler). However, these statistics can be misleading: the definition of a terminal illness can be as hazy as the definition of euthanasia itself. If more women are the subjects of so-called mercy killings, this does not necessarily point to a gender bias in the practice and could simply mean that more women were analyzed for the purpose of that particular study.
As palliative care specialist Dr. Gilbert puts it, "Despite this close involvement with the very patients for whom euthanasia is advocated we do not encounter any persistent rational demand" [Southern Cross Bioethics Institute]. The very point of 'Advanced Directives' is in itself confounding issue as frequently it is the patient's imaginary fears about loss of body functions and pain that drives them to such conclusions. So it is cleanly obvious
This literature review supports the premise that opinions regarding euthanasia differ among various groups of professional. This literature review demonstrates that the nurse plays an important role in the perceived quality of the death experience. The study indicates that there is a need for training in a number of clinical settings regarding care of the dying and futile treatments. Literature indicated that differences exist between nurses that are new to
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
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
Euthanasia is basically described as the intentional killing of an individual for his/her benefit, and is usually carried out because the person who dies requests for it. While it can also be referred to as physician-assisted suicide, it's known as euthanasia because there are situations where the individual can't ask for it. As one of the major issues in the medical field, there are various laws regarding euthanasia in almost
I believe that the most important factor which supports the argument according to which euthanasia should be your legal right is represented by the individual's right and freedom to choose. And by this I mean that all people ought to be allowed the right to this sort of decision and not only the ones who are terminally ill. For example, people in an advanced state of Alzheimer or people who
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