Euthanasia

Hippocrates lived before the time of Christ. Prior to his time, the medical practitioner had a dual role. One was to cure. One was to kill. The great contribution of Hippocrates, which passed into the Christian era and guided the medical profession for the next two millennia, was to separate the curing and killing functions of the physician. Henceforth, a physician would only cure. Down through the centuries in the Hippocratic oath has come the phrase, primum non nocere, "First do no harm." Now the oath of Hippocrates is no longer sworn by graduating medical students. With abortion, and the onrush of euthanasia, doctors, tragically, have again assumed the dual role.

The word Euthanasia originated from the Greek language: eu means "good" and thanatos means "death". One definition given to the word by the Netherlands State Commission on Euthanasia is "the intentional termination of life by another at the explicit request of the person who dies." That is, the term euthanasia normally implies that the act must be initiated by the person who wishes to commit suicide. However, some people define euthanasia to include both voluntary and involuntary termination of life. Like so many moral, ethical and religious terms, "euthanasia" has