Euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia is defined as a deliberate act of killing of a person for the benefit of that person. "Euthanasia" comes from two Greek words which together mean "good death." Since the expressed motive is usually to release the person from their misery, active euthanasia is often called "mercy killing." Active euthanasia is inducing or assisting in the death of a person, who is undergoing intense suffering and who has no practical hope of recovery. Passive euthanasia is withholding life-saving equipment or treatment, by medical equipment I mean surgeries, chemotherapy and other treatments beyond basic food, water, warmth, care and personal attention.
After such equipment and efforts are withdrawn, sometimes people live much longer than anticipated, and in rare cases even fully recover.) Both can be done either voluntarily, when the patient requests or agrees to euthanasia, or involuntary, when the patient does not or cannot express his wishes. Active euthanasia takes a life. Passive euthanasia allows a death. In its voluntary form it is suicide, in its involuntary form it is murder.
Euthanasia raises agonizing moral questions like these:
Is it ever right for another person to end the life of a terminally ill patient who is
in severe pain or enduring other suffering?
If euthanasia is sometimes right, under what circumstances is it right?
Is there any moral difference between killing someone and letting them die?
Some people think that euthanasia shouldn't be allowed even if it was morally right, because it would be abused and used as a cover for murder. At the heart of the ethical and religious arguments over euthanasia, are the different ideas that people have of the meaning and value of human existence, and of whether human beings have the right to decide issues of life and death for themselves. Killing or letting die? Euthanasia can be carried out either by doing...
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