Euthanasia

“When life is so burdensome, death has become for man as sought-after refuge”

(Herodotus C 485-c 425 B.C)

Euthanasia is one of today’s most widely and fiercely debated moral issues. It

has pained and exhausted society too long, questioning the

ethics and morality of the issue.

The majority of people wish to die well, quickly and without pain and anguish, sparing their loved ones watching them die slowly in hospital beds. Yet this isn’t always how things turn out, people spend years suffering in an unimaginable amount pain, just wanting a way out. Yet helping another die is possibly one of the most intense ethical debates of all time. This essay will inform you on what Euthanasia is and the beliefs people have about this controversial subject. (Torr 1999)

Euthanasia also called mercy killing, is a topic that has provoked numerous debates in the past and no doubt many more to come. By definition Euthanasia is the deliberate ending of the life of a patient, most often to relieve his or her suffering due to unwanted medical conditions. Often hospital patients may request euthanasia to avoid the weakness and loss of mental ability that some diseases can cause, and many feel these wishes should be respected. (Torr 1999)

Euthanasia is typically broken into two categories; active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia (2007) defines active euthanasia as the act of administering a lethal drug, or using other means that cause a persons death. And the act of passive euthanasia involves not doing something to prevent death, as when doctors refrain from using an artificial respirator or feeding tubes to keep a terminally ill patient alive.

Active euthanasia is typically the more highly debated of the two acts of

euthanasia and is better known because of the actions of Dr. Jack Kevorkian a Michigan physician, who has aided in many successful suicides, yet he is now serving prison time for two terms of imprisonment for helping a sick, suffering man die and also for the second degree murder of Thomas Youk, he received a sentence of 10-25 years. He was also given 3-7 years jail for using a lethal drug (Humphery 2006)

Passive euthanasia, on the other hand, is rarely debated and usually never

enters the mind because it is typically looked at as letting someone die

naturally. In passive euthanasia one simply refuses treatment with the

knowledge that death will occur. This offers little dispute and controversy for several

reasons, mainly because it is seen as a natural way of dying. The exception,

however, is that some religions refuse to accept treatment with the knowledge

that without the treatment they will die.

There is also voluntary and involuntary euthanasia, Voluntary euthanasia" is when the patient requests that action be taken to end his life, or that life-saving treatment be stopped, with full knowledge that this will lead to his death. Involuntary euthanasia is when a patient's life is ended without the patient's knowledge and consent. This may mean that the patient is kicking and screaming and begging for life, but in practice today it usually means that the