Euthanasia

1. INTRODUCTION:

Beside a rippling pond surrounded by oaks, cypress and fragrant magnolia, the ashes of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman who became a symbol of the right-to-die debate, have finally been laid to rest nearly three months after her death. Against Terri SchiavoÐŽ¦s parentsÐŽ¦ wishes, Mr. Schiavo fought a lengthy legal battle to have his wife's feeding tube removed, insisting that she had asked him to do so in the event of any incident that left her brain-damaged. Now, on the bronze plaque marking her grave, he has inscribed a pointed farewell message, which they see as a final "V sign". "I kept my promise," it reads. (Web page) This case was run for years and last seven days Terry had the least miserable time after her brain damage. She died after a week of starvation and relieved from excruciating pain. Thus euthanasia helps the terminally ill people to get rid of the unbearable pain, and so euthanasia, right-to-die, should be legalized.

2. EUTHANASIA:

The word Euthanasia originated from the Greek language: ЎҐeuÐŽ¦ means ЎҐgoodÐŽ¦ and ЎҐthanatosÐŽ¦ means ЎҐdeathÐŽ¦. The meaning of the word is "the intentional termination of life by another person at the explicit request of the person who dies." So, the term euthanasia generally implies that the person who wishes to commit suicide must initiate the act. However, some people define euthanasia to include both voluntary and involuntary termination of life. Like so many moral, ethical, and religious terms, "euthanasia" has many meanings and debatable connotations.

3. TYPES OF EUTHANASIA:

Euthanasia may be of several types and they are as follows:

„P Voluntary Euthanasia: where the patient himself makes the request to be killed.

„P Non-voluntary euthanasia: the person who is killed makes no request and gives no consent.

„P Involuntary euthanasia: when the person who is killed made an expressed wish to the contrary.

„P Physician assisted suicide: "someone provides an individual with the information, guidance, and means to take his or her own life with the intention that they will be used for this purpose. When it is a doctor who helps another persons to kill themselves it is called "physician assisted suicide."

Euthanasia is performed in two ways, firstly, by action, means intentionally causing a person's death by performing an action such as by giving a lethal injection, and secondly by omission where death is caused by not providing necessary customary care or food and water.

There is no euthanasia unless the death is intentionally caused by what was done (euthanasia by act) or not done (euthanasia by omission). Thus, some medical actions that are often called "passive euthanasia" are no form of euthanasia, since the intention to take life is lacking. These acts include not commencing treatment that would not be helpful for the patient, withdrawing treatment that has been shown to be ineffective or having side effects, and the giving of high doses of painkillers that may endanger life. All those are part of good medical practice, endorsed by law, when they are properly carried out.

4. HISTORY:

Euthanasia is not a new concept and it has been being practiced more or less since years ago. The debate was going on at a same pace in a parallel line. In 400 B.C. Greek physician Hippocrates, the "Father of Medicine,ЎЁ in his book ÐŽ§The Hippocratic Oath,ЎЁ said, "I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel" (Internet). In the 18th century, American society passed a law to outlaw the assisted suicide. Though deeply rooted, the States' assisted suicide bans have in recent years been reexamined and faced frequent threats. In 1920 the book "Permitting the Destruction of Life not Worthy of Life" was published. In this book, authors Alfred Hoche, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Freiburg, and Karl Binding, a professor of law from the University of Leipzig, argued that patients who seek for "death assistance" should, under very cautiously controlled conditions, be able to obtain it from a physician. This book helped support involuntary euthanasia by Nazis in Germany. In October of 1939 when the turmoil of war prevailed Hitler started widespread "mercy killing" of the sick and disabled and the code was named "Aktion T 4." The Nazi euthanasia program to eliminate "life unworthy of life" at first focused on newborns and very young children. Midwives and doctors were required to inform the authority about children up to age three who showed symptoms of physical abnormality, mental retardation, or other symptoms. In 1995 Australia's Northern Territory approved a euthanasia bill. It went into effect in 1996 and was overturned by the Australian Parliament in 1997. In 1998 U.S. state of Oregon legalized assisted suicide. In 2000 Netherlands legalized euthanasia. And in 2002 Belgium Government followed them to allow euthanasia in their country. Then on, a lot of debate has been going around on legalizing euthanasia or not. Conservatives are referring religion and ethics to forbid this killing. On the other hand, a number of organizations are putting their endeavor to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia. Some of these organizations are the Hemlock Society, Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Auckland, England Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Queensland Inc. Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Scotland (VESS), and Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Victoria etc.

5.REASONS FOR EUTHANASIA:

5.1 Excruciating pain:

Probably the major argument in favor of euthanasia is that the person involved is in great pain. Today, medical science is constantly being improved in the treatment of pain and, as they advance, the case for euthanasia/assisted-suicide is proportionally weakened. With modern advances in pain control, no patient should ever be in excruciating pain. However, most doctors have never had a course in pain management so they're unaware of what to do. Everyone - whether it is a person with a life-threatening illness or a chronic condition - has the right to pain relief. The solution is to organize better education of health care professionals on these crucial issues, to expand access to health care, and to inform patients about their rights.

5.2 The Right:

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