...Nuela, Jayson G. BSBA-II CAUSES OF EUTHANASIA The causes of euthanasia are usually advanced illness and a person's desire to end the suffering. The effects vary. Those who assist suicides can face criminal charges. They also have to live with ending a life, especially the life of a loved one. What is the difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide? Euthanasia and assisted suicide can be distinguished by considering the act without which the death would not occur. If a third party or a person performs the last act that intentionally leads to patient’s death, then it is called euthanasia. For example, giving a patient a lethal injection or putting a plastic bag over her head to suffocate her would be considered euthanasia. On the other hand, it is an assisted suicide when the patient himself performs an act that leads to death, but has been assisted by a doctor or some other person. Thus it would be assisted suicide if the patient dies after swallows the overdose of drug provided by his doctor for the purpose of causing death. METHODS OF EUTHANASIA When, however, an action or medication is withheld from a patient for the primary purpose of causing or hastening death, this is passive, or indirect, euthanasia. These measures may include the with-holding or withdrawal of ordinary measures such as food, water (hydration) and oxygen. Examples of passive euthanasia are: when food and water is withheld from sick or disabled newborn babies who might...
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...direct us towards the consequentialist conceptualization regarding the quality of life, and responsibility we have for what we consent to happen, and what we cause directly rather than the deontological idea of moral status (Adams and Nys, 2003). The medical resources are accessible and it is possible keeping any personality from biological death for some time. Because of this, we have to decide resolutely when it is permissible to end life. Is there a way of limiting such decisions? If it is permissible to remove or withdraw medication, with the unswervingly foreseeable result that the patient in question will die? In essence, is there an ethically relevant disparity between intentionally withdrawing medication, with the predictable and intended results of the patient’s death with an equal consequence? My first argument has a basis on the deontological perspective. Deontological arguments base on the assumptions of absolute morality and used against the act of euthanasia in health care. These hypotheses forbid actions emphasizing on their physical effects. From a deontological opinion, it is the intention of an act, for instance, respect for rights, principles or obligations instead of rightness or wrongness of consequences that establish morality. This means that in any phenomenon when faced with a tough decision regarding whether to aid someone to die, the actions should be moved by love. This implies that ignoring any hard and fast rule and acting according to...
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...Buddhists are not unanimous in their view of euthanasia, and the teachings of the Buddha don't explicitly deal with it. Most Buddhists are against involuntary euthanasia. Their position on voluntary euthanasia is less clear. States of mind The most common position is that voluntary euthanasia is wrong, because it demonstrates that one's mind is in a bad state and that one has allowed physical suffering to cause mental suffering. Meditation and the proper use of pain killing drugs should enable a person to attain a state where they are not in mental pain, and so no longer contemplate euthanasia or suicide. Buddhists might also argue that helping to end someone's life is likely to put the helper into a bad mental state, and this too should be avoided. Avoiding harm Buddhism places great stress on non-harm, and on avoiding the ending of life. The reference is to life - any life - so the intentional ending of life seems against Buddhist teaching and voluntary euthanasia should be forbidden. Certain codes of Buddhist monastic law explicitly forbid it. Lay-people do not have a code of Buddhist law, so the strongest that can be said of a lay person who takes part in euthanasia is that they have made an error of judgement. Karma Buddhists regard death as a transition. The deceased person will be reborn to a new life, whose quality will be the result of their karma. This produces two problems. We don't know what the next life is going to be like. If the next life is going to be...
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...Thoughts on Euthanasia HCA322 Instructor Thomas April Steinberg May 3, 2010 Any discussion of euthanasia obliges a person to confront humanity’s greatest fear—death (Pozgar, 2010). There are numerous debates about the legality of assisted suicide, some people argue that physician assisted suicide is immoral, they have religious objections to assisted suicide, whilst others believe that they should be able to end their suffering in a manner and time which suits them and die with dignity. In this paper, I will discuss my thoughts and feelings about the subject, my opinion regarding its impact on “special populations”, as well as to briefly mention the laws governing euthanasia in the state of Ohio. I feel that I deserve the right to live, and by the same token, to die the same way I lived, with the ability to make my own choices, and to die with dignity. Other peoples need to believe in a higher power, however has stripped my right to die with dignity away from me. These religious fanatics believe that for me to have a physician assist me in dying that I am in turn “playing God”. If that is the case then what if a person is bleeding to death from an accidental cut, should we not just watch and let death occur? To intervene would challenge God's prerogative to determine the time and place of death, would it not? For some reason, however religious people do not believe that to be the case. Sounds to me like a case of contradiction, but that is for another discussion. We wisely...
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...As an Athletic Trainer ethics play a major role. In many cases I evaluate many of the injuries sustained by my student-athletes offering varied suggestions on how we should move forward with either a Doctor Visit or in house rehabilitation. With this responsibility comes opposition from both parents and coaches as they insist I clear an athlete for play or don’t deliver the whole truth to the parents and or coach. Although not as controversial as assisted suicide it poses significant risks and eyebrow raises in the sports world. Doctors, nurses, and various medical personal have a harder role. They wager people’s lives and future and decide in some countries whether or not to permit such an act. In this essay we will explore the facts on Euthanasia: Assisted Suicide, my view, the world view and its progress. Before I begin, however, let me note what I will not try to do. I will not try to show you that Physician Assisted Suicide is a fully justifiable course of action what I will do is give you facts and statistics of this rapidly growing controversial issue.. What I will show you is the compatibility to the commitment to good end-of-life care. One of the most important public policy debates today surrounds the issues of euthanasia and assisted suicide. The outcome of that debate to whether or not it should be made available will profoundly affect family relationships, interaction between doctors and patients, and concepts of basic ethical behavior. Although not accepted widespread...
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...2 April 2014 Rhetorical Analysis: Euthanasia Particular Analysis There are three key audiences of the text for William F. May's “Rising to the Occasion of Our Death.” The first audience, in this case, would be legislative organizations or lawmakers who have researched and studied similar cases regarding euthanasia. Since May was as an ethics professor at Southern Methodist University, his tone is decidedly intellectual. An uneducated individual would find it more difficult to read his essay; for example, in declarations such as “Advocates of active euthanasia appeal to the principle of patient autonomy,” May's syntax and tone is formal, informative, and utilizes heavy technical jargon (May 662). In other words, it is authoritative, and enables the audience to view him as a credible source due to his syntactical confidence. Other organizations, lobbyists, or lawmakers who are researching evidence on euthanasia would certainly benefit from reading his expert opinion on the matter. Moreover, his desire to develop a “judicious, regulated policy” is a certain acknowledgement that he is attempting to legally call for regulations on euthanasia (May 662). The second audience that May is appealing to are conservative Christians, who are distinctively pro-life. As his article was originally published in well-circulated The Christian Century magazine, addressing this audience exposes members of May's audience who are unfamiliar with euthanasia to its technicalities by debating...
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...End of Life Issues: The Right to Die Coretta Ector Grand Canyon University: PSY- 357 April 10, 2016 The term euthanasia is the act of the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. Euthanasia has also been known as mercy killing and assisted suicide. There are six ways that euthanasia can be carried out: Active euthanasia: active intention by a medical professional to terminate a patient life to end the patient pain, such as lethal substance being administered to the patient. Passive euthanasia: purposeful holding back a patient medical treatment with the last intention being to end their life, example withholding their medication. Voluntary euthanasia: where the terminal ill individual ask to receive medical treatment to help them to die, such as asking to be given morphine to help take them out of pain. Involuntary euthanasia: ending a patient’s life against his or her will, example Doctor given dying patient a lethal injection without their consent. Non-involuntary euthanasia: ending a patient’s life that is not capable to give consent, example being taken off life support without consent. Last is physician-assisted suicide: where the physician prescribes the lethal drug versus giving it directly to the patient. The ethical difference between passive euthanasia is very slight. Some agree that it is okay to keep treatment and allow the patient to die but never to kill a patient by a deliberate act. In...
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...controversial subjects, leading people to think of every single struggle they face up to pursue happiness and find out the real meaning of life. This leads people to realize that it is worth being committed to life and overcoming every obstacle of it, showing that essence of human spirit and the importance of perseverance. However, there are extreme situations in which a person is terminally ill and there is no medical treatment that can defeat this illness, so it is believed that the best choice is the act of intentionally ending his life to relieve the pain and suffering. Although euthanasia may be a solution in some cases, it really devalues human life and it still be considered as a kind of murder so euthanasia should not be allowed in any case. Supporters of euthanasia claim that autonomy, dignity, and individuality are the highest values in people’s life and when you lose them, euthanasia seems a good choice for those whose life has been limited to pain and humiliation, as they fully depend on other people to be cared, and also depend on machines to live. There are some cases about people suffering from terminal illnesses such as AIDS or Cancer, whose pain is unbearable, the medical treatments are useless and their life expectancy is rather poor so do not they deserve the right of having a death full of dignity? Even when this is about ending with a human life, it is an honorable way of ending the life of a person and to end with its suffering. However, according to...
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...University of Warwick School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2010-05 LEGAL FORM AND MORAL JUDGMENT: THE PROBLEM OF EUTHANASIA Alan Norrie Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1577163 ABSTRACT In this paper, I want to consider the way in which categories of legal responsibility in the criminal law’s general part mediate and finesse broader moral issues around questions of euthanasia. I INTRODUCTION Euthanasia and its close cousin assisted dying represent extremely problematic areas for the criminal law, as the recent guidelines issue around assisted suicide testifies. The effect of these guidelines is to make no official change in the law, yet to make it clear as a matter of practice that where the law on its face has been broken, there will be no prosecution where the defendant was motivated by good moral reasons. On a legal realist vision of law, the law has changed, but on a positivistic reading it has not. What we have in fact is a rather complex and potentially troublesome juxtaposition of legal rule and administrative discretion. This balances strong social, political and moral claims in a society where there is no consensus as to the rights and wrongs of helping someone to die. In this context, the legal realist can say ‘I told you so’, and the legal positivist can cluck disapprovingly, but both miss the point, which is that the law’s messy mixing of messages in a pragmatic compromise reflects the moral impasse in a way that...
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...The Ethics for Nurses in Medically Assisted Suicide Physician-assisted suicide also known as PAS, is a controversial topic everywhere; some believe if a patient is terminally ill then it should be permissible while others believe it is against their beliefs and religion to commit any type of suicide. Physician-assisted suicide is when a patient requests the help of digesting a lethal drug to quicken their death (United States Physician Assisted Suicide Law Summary and Law Digest par. 1). The most common patients to request assisted suicide are patients with cancer and AIDs. Active euthanasia is sometimes also considered physician-assisted suicide because it results in death from someone purposely doing something to the patient causing them to die; such as being injected with poison. Passive euthanasia is the withholding of a medical treatment for a patient, which is legal, but many come to be disagreed upon. Withholding food and water, turning off machines, and failing to resuscitate are prime examples of passive euthanasia (United States Physician Assisted Suicide Law Summary and Law Digest par. 1). There are currently three states that permit physician-assisted suicide, Washington and Oregon. On October 27, 1997, the Death with Dignity Act was passed in Oregon. The Death with Dignity Act states that an Oregonian that is terminally-ill has the right to voluntarily, self-administrate lethal medications with a prescription from their physician. On March 5, 2009, Washington passed...
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...Ethical Dilemma NRS 437V December 11, 2011 Analysis of an Ethical Dilemma Euthanasia, sometimes referred to as mercy killing, is an act by a third party that causes a patient’s death. Such acts include administering a lethal dose of medication by way of injection or mask, usually to a seriously ill patient. This analysis will discuss the ethics of euthanasia as it relates to nursing, laws, society, and the stakeholders involved in the scenario. The American Nurses Association (ANA) believes that the nurse should not participate in Active euthanasia because such an act is in direct violation of the Code for Nurses with Interpretive Statements, the ethical traditions and goals of the profession, and its covenant with society. (Task Force on the Nurse's Role in End-of-Life Decisions, 2011) While patient advocates should be vigilant for providing diligent care, they should perform their tasks with respect, support and due commitment towards their care. In healthcare practice, in order to relieve pain and suffering, there is an obligation to promote dignity and autonomy of patients. Euthanasia is a complex issue in which nurses are uncomfortable determining the life and death of a patient. Nurses have to practice ethical principles of beneficence, which maximize benefit and reduce potential risk and harm to the patient. Non-malfeasance is another ethical issue in which a nurse should do no harm. A competent nurse in this scenario is faced with an ethical dilemma. Practicing...
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...Explain how a follower of utilitarianism would respond to issue raised by euthanasia. Classical Utilitarianism is teleological, and it says that the outcome of an action determines whether the action is right or wrong. The basic principle of utilitarianism is to produce the greatest good for the greatest number. When regarding euthanasia, the question of what counts as a good consequence is questioned. John Stuart Mill says that good consequences are simply happiness, happiness is pleasure and freedom from pain, this involves physical, mental and psychological pain. Mill placed a high value on this individual freedom, saying that one should have sovereignty over the things that didn’t affect other people, whether or not it led to the best outcome for that individual. He also says that good consequences depend on the quality of pleasure as well as quantity. This higher happiness stresses self-development and develops peoples rational nature. When discussing types of euthanasia, for instance voluntary euthanasia, a follower of Mills utilitarianism may apply his notion of victimless crime, as there is no crime since the patient wishes to die. However although a patient has had their wish and the doctor is simply carrying it out, there are still effects on society and on the doctor-patient relationship, thus making society itself the victim as human life loses its value. Singer agrees that we should look beyond merely pleasure, to people’s interests. This sort of ‘welfare’ utilitarianism...
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...Euthanasia According to Webster’s dictionary, euthanasia is “intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit”. Clearly, everybody hopes that his or her death is gentle and easy, and bypasses pain and suffering and loss of dignity. However, the question of whether people can legally passively or actively end their own lives raise many issues. Some argue that by allowing euthanasia will permit people to look down on human life, as if it is not important and can be used for certain criminal circumstances. On the other hand, others argue that permitting people to take their own lives actually maintains human dignity, since people should not have to die painful deaths. I believe that human dignity and the value of human life can best be protected and preserved by permitting people to chose to stop treatments which prolong their lives, but without legalizing the active taking of lives. The philosopher Dyck is representative of the the position that euthanasia should never be legal, because it does not entail compassion for one, or one owns human dignity. Dyck proposes an alternative moral argument to euthanasia, the idea of “benemortasia.” Benemortasia is the belief that a “good” death doesn’t need to be painless or be fully controlled by the person.. Not only does Dyck argue that our definition of good death should change, but he has multiple arguments for why euthanasia is morally wrong. First off, one who causes someone...
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...Kant’s ethical theory was deontological and absolute. We use reason for morality acceptance. His categorical imperatives are part of Kant’s ethical theory, they require the sense of reason (which he believed that a human possess). He believed that if you combined ones duty with goodwill it will result in a moral act. Mixed emotions will not do in a moral situation, you need to exclude all possible emotions to make a perfect moral action. This will then result to summum bonum (an afterlife with God). However, to work out what your duty is, is an ethical dilemma. We can link Kant’s Categorical Imperatives (CI) to euthanasia. Euthanasia is terminating a patients life, painlessly, who is suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. Terminating someone's life can be voluntary (someone helps a person die) or involuntary ( where a patient is capable of ending their own life). Euthanasia can also be passive (food and water deprivation) or active (injected a patient with a medicine which will painlessly kill them). There are many churches and religions which will deny this mercy killing. Natural law followers will believe all life is sacred and we should not just end someone's life. People suffer so that our souls can mature and grow. Without suffering, our soul does not grow spiritually and we are denying and disobeying Gods purpose. Referring back to Kant, Kant is also absolute and therefore we should use reasoning for what is morally accepted and what...
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...THE CHURCH, EUTHANASIA and ASSISTED SUICIDE Euthanasia also known as “mercy killing” and assisted suicide are worldwide controversial issues. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the word euthanasia comes from Greek, meaning easy death (eu: easy, thanatos: death). Euthanasia means to end the life of a person who is terminally ill or suffering from severe pain, in a deliberate way. At the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) webpage, in the section Ethics guides, under the title of Forms of Euthanasia, Religions and Death? (2009), different types of euthanasia are described, such as indirect, active, passive, voluntary, involuntary and non voluntary. On the other hand, assisted suicide is usually performed with the help of a health professional; that is why; it is usually called Physician Assisted Suicide (or PAS). The main controversy is over the different opinions on whether it is the sick patient’s decision or if it is a legal, ethical or religious issue to be considered by a third party. In order to practice assisted suicide in a country where it is legal, many factors should be present, such as the moral and religious beliefs of the patient and the physician or the patient’s family and the physician, as well as the legislation of the country where it is going to be carried out. At present, in countries where euthanasia is not legalized yet, it is very difficult to obtain legal permission to practice it. As regards the ethical...
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