The Ethics of Euthanasia Essay - 1742 Words

A teacher I once had in high school would often talk about her father who lived in hospice care. Her father suffered from dementia and had been for years. She would often talk about how on his â€Å"good† days he would plead her husband to put a pillow on his head and suffocate him, to take him out of his misery. If it was legal, her husband would have willingly helped her father and put him out of his misery, however in the state of North Carolina, physician-assisted suicide is illegal. Luckily, her father passed away this year and is finally free of pain and suffering. However, if physician-assisted suicide was legal, her father would not have had to suffer as long as he did. Before we explore the sides of physician-assisted suicide,†¦show more content†¦Though these methods do end life, they are uncomfortable, painful, and do not allow the patient to end their life with dignity. Through the legalization of physician-assisted suicide, many individuals who have endured years of suffering will finally be allowed to end their life with dignity. In the United States today, there is a considerable amount of debate of whether or not physician-assisted suicide should be legalized. Many oppose physician-assisted suicide because they view it to be morally and ethically wrong. Similarly, many support the legalization of physician-assisted suicide because they believe human beings have the right to determine when and how they die. Personally, I believe human beings have the right to determine when they die and that the government should not keep individuals who are in extreme pain and only have a few months to live from ending their life with dignity. Through this paper, I am going to explore the many sides of physician-assisted suicide. As I stated earlier, many oppose physician-assisted suicide for many different moral and ethical reasons. Many people all around the world are against the legalization of physician-assisted suicide because acc ording to Nargus Ebrahimi’s article â€Å"The Ethics of Euthanasia,†Show MoreRelatedThe Philosophical Theories Of Euthanasia And Ethics1464 Words   |  6 PagesEuthanasia and Ethics The philosophical theories and ethics of two philosophers, Aristotle and Kant, offer two differing views on the morality of euthanasia. Margaret P. Battin’s â€Å"Euthanasia: The Way We Do It, the Way They Do It† offers three countries’ perspectives on and laws regarding euthanasia and/or physician assisted suicide, as well as evaluations and critiques of their policies. To determine which of these points of view has the most pertinence, all of these arguments will be outlinedRead MoreEthics of Euthanasia Essay1475 Words   |  6 Pagesto depend on someone for everything suddenly brings feelings of helplessness much like an infant feels. It is easy to see why some patients with terminal illnesses would seek any type of relief from this hardship, even if that relief is suicide. Euthanasia or assisted suicide is where a physician would give a patient an aid in dying. â€Å"Assisted suicide is a controversial medical and ethical issue based on the question of wh ether, in certain situations, Medical practioners should be allowed to helpRead MoreThe Ethics Of Non Voluntary Active Euthanasia1050 Words   |  5 PagesThe idea of non-voluntary active euthanasia is not such a disaster, as euthanasia itself. The problem that comes into consideration is when and why it should be used. When euthanasia is non-voluntary and active, such as on a patient with dementia, the ethical decision comes into play if there are episodes of clarity and the patient has or has not mentioned what they want to do at the end of life situations. Principles of deontology suggest duty and obligation. A medical professional in such situationsRead MoreEssay Moral and Ethics: Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide 1776 Words   |  8 PagesEuthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are actions that hit at the core of what it means to be human - the moral and ethical actions that make us who we are, or who we ought to be. Euthanasia, a subject that is so well known in t he twenty-first century, is subject to many discussions about ethical permissibility which date back to as far as ancient Greece and Rome , where euthanasia was practiced rather frequently. It was not until the Hippocratic School removed it from medical practice. EuthanasiaRead More Euthanasia as One of Todays Most Prevalent Ethics Issues Essay2759 Words   |  12 PagesEuthanasia as One of Todays Most Prevalent Ethics Issues   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Euthanasia can be considered one of the most prevalent problems when dealing with the ethics of patient treatment. Should people have the right to end their own lives when prolonging it will only cause them more pain? Should families who love someone so much, that they don’t want to lose them, cause them more pain by keeping them alive. What makes that more ethically correct then letting them die? The more you look into this issueRead MoreEuthanasia Essay : Euthanasia And Euthanasia863 Words   |  4 PagesThis is why Euthanasia is important and summarizing the research that I found on Euthanasia. Euthanasia is important because there is a lot of arguments about Euthanasia. Some people support it and some people do not support Euthanasia (Euthanasia and assisted suicide- Arguments). Euthanasia allows people to be free from physical pain. It is the hastening of death of a patient to prevent further sufferings (Euthanasia Revisited). The religious argument states God chooses when human life ends. EuthanasiaRead MoreEuthanasi Death And Dignity Act1674 Words   |  7 PagesDeath and Dignity Act. Through our presentation, the group discussed if Euthanasia was morally and ethically right through the eyes of Thresa Christensen. Thresa Christensen was a character from the case study in which her father decided act upon voluntary active euthanasia. As group, we thought it would be best if is Theresa Christensen spoke on from the behalf of herself as a person who supports voluntary active euthanasia. The case study project has taught me a variety of skills to understandRead MoreEuthanasia Essays : Euthanasia And Euthanasia1432 Words   |  6 PagesDoes euthanasia assists patients to die with dignity? From fresh to dying, is the humanity multiplies the development natural law. Along with medicine progress and life enhancement, the people besides pay attention to eugenics, simultaneous starts to pay attention to the euthanasia. Since this century 50 ages, regarding euthanasia, many countries’ medical arenas, educational world, and ethical groups have been arguing about the euthanasia argument for many years, although many person of ideas haveRead MoreArgumentative Essay On Euthanasia1302 Words   |  6 Pagesbehind Euthanasia In an ethics class I took in high school, I have learned about many controversial topics. One that caught my attention specifically was euthanasia or the â€Å"right to die† as some call it. There are many types of Euthanasia, including active and passive. In class we debated the difference between the two and why passive euthanasia is legal and active is not. Active euthanasia is defined as â€Å"a person directly and deliberately causing the patient s death.† (Forms of euthanasia) PassiveRead MoreEuthanasia: Murder or Mercy? Essay1665 Words   |  7 Pagesa way as to reach an impasse amongst two opposing parties. Euthanasia happens to be a topic that has been debated extensively for the larger part of the twenty-first century (Larue). Even the definition of euthanasia evokes mixed emotions: the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy (Merriam-Webster). The struggle over whether euthanasia should be accepted as a common practice is majorly stimulated