Persuasive Essay On Euthanasia

We all die in an innumerable amount of ways and our autonomous decision to choose Active Euthanasia or PAS should be respected as should our choice to refuse euthanasia. The act of killing a patient, who has chosen to have a quick death, in my opinion, does not have the same ethical implications as letting a patient die when that patient can no longer bear living. I conclude that it is usually better to kill a patient if their life has become unbearable and they foresee no recovery of an acceptable quality of life, rather than to prolong the life which is unwanted.

It has the minds of society wondering if death solves some of the most extreme medical problems. If a patient finds himself or herself terminally ill and in excruciating pain, they should have the option to partake in assisted suicide to end their misery. Some insights support Euthanasia and some reject the concept. This issue is important to society because people want the right to end their lives when facing terminal, or life threatening, illnesses. In my opinion, certain forms of euthanasia should be considered legal.

The formal role of a doctor for euthanasia when a patient is on the verge of death, as described by physician William Hunk, is “We dismiss all thought of cure, or the prolongation of life, and our efforts are limited to the relief of certain urgent conditions, such as pain.” () Many physicians in the 1800’s - 1900’s considered euthanasia as a part of their job by helping patients achieve a peaceful death. Although, recently there has been more and more cases where physicians try to get rid of their dying patient by giving them certain medication that the doctors knew would be deadly. The most relevant case in today’s world is abortions involving euthanasia. Infants born with a slim chance of survival and severe deformities may be killed by being given medication in lethal doses to “ease them quietly out of their life.” () The first effort to legalize euthanasia in the United States was made by a legislator in Ohio in 1906. A bill was shown to the state, and if the bill was to pass, a physician in the U.S. would have the right to suggest a “painless death to any... ... middle of paper ... ...ould ultimately be up to the patient to decide the value of life and death for him/her.

Euthanasia as Mercy or Murder "In keeping with the root definition of 'euthanasia'- literally [meaning] 'good death'- [supporters] of euthanasia insist they are talking about helping terminally ill patients in insufferable pain die a dignified death- at the patient's request. But this bears no resemblance to the true picture of the actual practice of euthanasia in the United States" (Lyons np). Passive euthanasia is death by nonintervention, meaning a health care worker can discontinue providing life-sustaining treatment to the patient, thus allowing him to die more quickly. "In all actuality, [passive] euthanasia often involves withholding food and water from a patient whose death is caused by starvation or dehydration rather than the patient's underlying disease" (Lyons np). In active euthanasia, a physician or family member takes the life of a patient by means of lethal injection, before he or she dies of a terminal illness or injury.

Letting a dying person die and helping a dying person die are two different things. If someone holds a gun up to his or her own head, yet someone else pulls the trigger, it is not suicide. It is murder. In most cases euthanasia is just this. For example, a terminally ill patient asks a doctor to give him medicines that will result in his death.

Euthanasia Patients Should be Fully Educated in the Treatments Available for their Illness Before Making an Irreversible Decision Euthanasia is one of the most controversial topics in our society today. It has sparked heated debates between families, doctors, and the courts about the morality of 'mercy killing.' Euthanasia deals with taking a person's life away from one who wishes to be put to death rather than continuing to live through the pain and agony of a chronic illness. There are two types of euthanasia, active and passive. Active euthanasia is loosely defined as the deliberate action to end the life of a dying patient to avoid further suffering.

The fact that a lethal injection will kill both a healthy and a sick individual as opposed to the natural course of life express the distinctions between natural death and euthanasia. Since this form of treatment can cause fatal results for all people, is it right to classify Euthanasia as treatment? Furthermore, retreating to the use of euthanasia essentially contradicts what it means to be a doctor and practitioner of medicine. In the process of euthanasia rather than the physician administering pain relief and healing, he becomes an agent of death. Prominent Greek physician Hippocrates spoke against the idea of euthanasia in his Hippocratic Oath as he vowed to “give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest in council,” (Source H).

Euthanasia and a Proper Death Assisted suicide is a very controversial topic in American society that must be dealt with. In assisted suicide, a patient who is terminally ill requests the doctor to administer a lethal dose of medication to end his life. Assisted suicide brings up many moral and legal issues regarding the right of a patient to die with respect and the duties of a doctor. This issue is divided among people who believe that doctor assisted suicide is illegal and immoral and those who believe that suicide is a right that people have. Doctors who aid a patient to commit suicide are performing an illegal act and should be penalized to the full extent of the law.

This quote essentially states that the intentional killing of one human being by another (in this case, active euthanasia) goes against the AMA and is therefore wrong. The cessation of necessary treatment to prolong the life of the body by the patient or the immediate family (passive euthanasia) when there is irrefutable evidence that biological death is imminent, however, is permissible. His second premise is that “active euthanasia is a more efficient and humane means to ending the patient’s suffering than passive euthanasia.” To defend this claim, Rachel gives the case of a patient with incurable throat cancer. This patient is sure to die in a matter of days even if treatment is continued. The patient does not wish to live on in agony and asks the doctor to cease treatment.

Although the general public does not recognize passive euthanasia as doctor assisted suicide it is still a form of euthanasia that is technically legal. Passive euthanasia is when the underlying cause of death is the disease. When terminally ill people refuse to be kept alive by machines or medication, which is within their legal rights, they’re aiding in the advancement of their own death, which is a form of passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is when the cause of death is inflicted by the physician in an already dying patient. Active euthanasia places the blame upon the physician because they are the primary cause of death, this is why active euthanasia is illegal and seen as much worse than passive.