The Euthanasia Debate

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Although there are different forms, the practice of euthanasia is the process of ending an individual’s life. The different forms of euthanasia are Active and Passive euthanasia. There are also different ways that a physician may perform this type of procedure. This course of action may be taken in situations for speeding up the death, typically for medical patients who are severely ill. Some people, depending on their personal views may define it as putting someone out of their misery, where others would refer to euthanasia as being an assisted suicide. All forms of euthanasia are continuously spawning a wide variety of deviating ethical affairs. Issues pertaining to euthanasia include the legitimacy debate of assisted suicide, especially in the state of California. Much like the word itself, Active euthanasia is the involvement of killing an individual by Active means, for instance, using lethal injections. This is also identified as mercy killing. According to the American Bar Association, “proponents of Active euthanasia often point to the fact that pain control through the administration of narcotics may in fact hasten a patient's death” (American Bar Association, 1992 p. 1). There are also different forms of Active euthanasia named voluntary Active euthanasia and involuntary Active euthanasia. Voluntary Active euthanasia is known as physician assisted suicide. In this case, patients chose their death due to their medical state. Involuntary Active euthanasia occurs when a medical patient does not give the consent of wanting to die. On the contrary, Passive euthanasia, is the act of withdrawing or withholding treatment that is given to an ill patient. For example, a patient is taken off of life support by having the “plug”... ... middle of paper ... ...NLINE] Available at: https://lc-ugrad1.gcu.edu/learningPlatform/user/users.html?token=F3SmBY5RZcrbKEnNHZQUGz5IrmUN6b8EV%2b3fV1xFBZ7m2%2b%2bAYFcVk4fh7eRUA4sp&operation=home&classId=579862#/learningPlatform/loudBooks/loudbooks.html?viewPage=current¤tTopicname=End of Life and Death/Dying&operation=innerPage&topicMaterialId=957c32e8-98d7-4e6e-8763-51414eda6b10&contentId=61c3a8c1-9a1c-4bfa-91f6-0b98128823cb&. [Last Accessed 28 March 2014]. Lansdown, Andrew (2007). Euthanasia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://lifeministries.org.au/pamphlets.php?content_id=63. [Last Accessed 28 March 2014]. Park, James L. (2008). CALIFORNIA RIGHT TO KNOW END-OF-LIFE OPTIONS LAW. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/AB2747.html. [Last Accessed 28 March 2014]. Watts, J. (2000). Hong Kong debates where to draw the line with passive euthanasia. Lancet, 355(9204), 633.

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