Killing stands for the killer taking others’ life, but it is not the will of the person who is killed. Some people believe that it is good to help people relief themselves of pain, and do not need to suffer anymore. Some people would think euthanasia is a murder. Here is the question, is euthanasia a helpful thing or a crime? Should euthanasia be allowed?
People who argue with Kevorkian for physician-assisted suicide feel that by helping a patient end his or her life peacefully is helpful to family and friends. Joe Masserli points out main arguments for and against assisted suicide in his political assessment of the subject. He argues equally for and against the topic, which points out many things that go unnoticed by those with bold opinions on assisted suicide. Masserli points out the amount of pain that a patient can be spared from, the fundamental freedom of the right to die, the Death with Dignity Act in Oregon, the reduction of healthcare costs, the freeing of doctor and nurse time, the pain and anguish that a patient’s family can be saved from, the
Medical Ethics of Active Euthanasia Abstract This paper explains what active euthanasia is and how it ethically has an effect on the practice of medicine. As time passes there are increasing numbers of terminally ill cases, such as cancer or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. These patients endure physical symptoms other than pain often contributes to suffering near the end of lift. Most physicians and their patients strive to for cures. However, there are some patients who give up and opt to end their life by way of active euthanasia.
How does caring versus curing fit into this spectrum? Apply ethical principles (justice, autonomy, etc.) to this dilemma. Discuss how these ethical principles apply to the situation you describe The right to die can go down many avenues. Euthanasia in not lawful in every state, but a select few have passed laws allowing patients to have physician assisted suicide under very specific guidelines.
The main question remains: should we kill in order to relieve pain? But also should a doctor who swore to save lives, be the person to end one? Aren’t there any alternatives to euthanasia? Seeing that euthanasia is subject to an increase in popularity, it would be interesting to see how the world would cope, but also how it will seek to regulate the process, in order to avoid useless deaths. Euthanasia is touted as the ultimate pain relief, but comes at the ultimate price.
Patients are often motivated towards euthanasia by terminal illnesses, such as cancer, AIDS, et cetera. Patients may want to opt for euthanasia when health authorities suggest they go into hospice especially designed to cope with their illness. A wish to maintain their independence, along
A key factor that I read was that even though the interviewees had terminal illnesses and faced possible death they did not find it difficult to talk about euthanasia. In concluding this study Kuuppelomaki (2000) stated that the most important result of this study was that more than half of the subjects (n=71) could justify active euthanasia (p.20). Most of those subjects were close family members of cancer patients and it was also mentioned that one opinion on the reason for the positive responses was people who are close to somebody whom they witness suffering in
Nevertheless, the technologies also prolong the dying processes, leading some people to question whether modern medicine is forcing patients to live in unnecessary pain when there is no chance they will be cured. “Passive euthanasia—disconnecting a respirator or removing a feeding tube has become an accepted solution to this dilemma. Active euthanasia perhaps an overdose of pills or a deadly injection of morphine remains controversial “(McDougall,
This essay will argue that Huttmann made a wise decision and did not commit a crime. She made a very difficult decision to free Mac of his misery and live with a peaceful conscience. During the 80's euthanasia was not a common procedure for hospitals. There are patients like Mac who are very ill and transformed from a strong, young person in to a skeleton trapped in a hospital bed. When people are very sick and have to lay in bed for months without showing a bit of progress, as in the majority of the cancer cases, they are in agony.“The Doctor believed that life must be extended as long they have the means and knowledge to do it” (Huttmann 114).
Physician-assisted suicide, a suicide made possible by a physician providing a patient with the means to kill themselves, and euthanasia, the mercy killing of one individual by another, are highly controversial topics. Even countries which share a great deal of their philosophical and moral foundations, such as the United States and much of Western Europe, come to very different conclusions and create very different legislation in this area. However, I believe that there are some basic conclusions that argue both for and against PAS and euthanasia, and when they are weighed against each other there is a much stronger case for legalizing the practices than for banning them. To begin, though, it is important to point out that banning a practice