Term paper on Euthanasia

Free Euthanasia papers

euthanasia
Euthanasia : for and against FOR: At any one time, over 10,000 patients in Canada are in a permanently vegetative State (Bender, 34). In addition, thousands of profoundly handicapped infants are born each year. As life- sustaining medical technology continues to improve and lengthen th

euthanasia
Euthanasia is assisted suicide. Is it right or wrong? Allot of people say its wrong, and that it is not moral to help someone commit suicide in some states it’s illegal and you can go to jail for it. People who are very sick want to die to end their suffering. In some states that is not allowed. In

Euthanasia, it is one of the most controversial issues of our time. This controversial issue raises many questions such as: how should decisions be made, and by whom? What should be determined as a matter of law and what left a matter of discretion and judgment? Should those who want to die, or who are in a “persistent vegetative state” be allowed to die voluntarily? Who should decide: the patient, the physician, the courts, or the families? The pro-euthanasia arguments turn on the individual case of the patient in pain, suffering at the center of an intolerable existence. When life becomes unbearable, quick death can be the answer. If living persons become so ill that they cannot tolerate the pain they have a "right to die" to an escape from torment, some may say. So long as the right to die means not prolonging the life by undesirable treatment, it may be classified as rational suicide.

The term “euthanasia” means “good health” or “well dying”; it is derived from the Greek “eu” and “thanatos”. In its classical sense, it is a descriptive term referring to an easy death as opposed to an agonizing or tormented dying. In Greek literature, euthanasia conveyed a “happy death, an ideal and coveted end to a full and pleasant life.” The concern to die well is as old as humanity itself, for the questions surrounding death belong to the essence of being human. All people die, but apparently only people know they are to die. They live with the truth that life is under the sentence of death. Thus, from the “beginning of the species concern with how one dies has been an implicit part of the human attempt to come to terms with death.” There is still a question involved in the contemporary debates about euthanasia which is posed by a case such as the terminally ill who are dying.

The issue concerns the morality of mercy in aiding the dying patient. The question goes beyond simply withdrawing treatments. The issue is whether, in the name of mercy, one might morally aid someone's dying? “Are circumstances under which it is morally responsible to terminate a person, or does love always require resisting death through every means possible?” Some argue that "it is harder morally to justify letting somebody die a slow and ugly death, dehumanized, than it is to justify helping him to escape from such misery. Some very prominent people are making packs with friends or relatives that specify that either will help the other die when life becomes desperate from pain or tragic accident. Families and physicians feel a variety of powerful emotions when dealing with a patient dying a slow and agonizing death. Certainly they wish that the pain were relieved and that health restored; that the patient not die but go on living and sharing concerns and joys together. “When the illness is terminal and there is no hope of relief or recovery, however, death is often desired for the patient as God's appointed way to relieve suffering.”

This issue raised concerns to doctors....