Mar 24, · Allowing physician-assisted suicide would be a grave mistake for four reasons. First, it would endanger the weak and vulnerable. Second, it would corrupt the practice of medicine and the doctor euthanasia & assisted suicide – should euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide be legal? felon voting – should felons who have completed their sentence (incarceration, probation, and parole) be allowed to vote? fighting in h0ckey – should fighting be allowed in hockey? fracking – should the united states continue fracking Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest by an authorized administrator of Augustana Digital Commons. For more information, please contactdigitalcommons@blogger.com Augustana Digital Commons Citation Smith, Wade M.. "The Ethical and Economic Concerns of Physician Assisted Suicide" ().Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics
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Note: Varies by jurisdiction. Different countries have different euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords select committee on medical ethics defines euthanasia as "a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering". Euthanasia is categorized in different ways, which include voluntary, non-voluntary, or involuntary: [6]. As of [update] euthanasia had become the most active area of research in bioethics.
Passive euthanasia known as "pulling the plug" is legal under some circumstances in many countries. Active euthanasia, however, is legal or de facto legal in only a handful of countries for example: Belgium, Canada and Switzerlandwhich limit it to specific circumstances and require the approval of counselors and doctors or other specialists.
In some countries - such as Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan - support for active euthanasia is almost non-existent. Like other terms borrowed from history, "euthanasia" has had different meanings depending on usage. The first apparent usage of the term "euthanasia" belongs to the historian Suetoniuswho described how the Emperor Augustus"dying quickly and without suffering in the arms of his wife, doctor assisted suicide essay, Livia, experienced the 'euthanasia' he had wished for.
In current usage, euthanasia has been defined as the "painless inducement of a quick death". In particular, these include situations where a person kills another, painlessly, but for no reason beyond that of personal gain; or accidental deaths that are quick and painless, but not intentional. Another approach incorporates the notion of suffering into the definition. The third element incorporated into many definitions is that of intentionality — the death must be intended, rather than being accidental, and the intent of the action must be a "merciful death".
A kills another person B for the benefit of the second person, who actually does benefit from being killed". Draper argued that any definition of euthanasia must incorporate four elements: an agent and a subject; an intention; a causal proximity, such that the actions of the agent lead to the outcome; and an outcome.
Based on this, she offered a doctor assisted suicide essay incorporating those elements, stating that euthanasia "must be defined as death that results from the intention of one person to kill another person, using the most gentle and painless means possible, that is motivated solely by the best interests of the person who dies. Their definition specifically discounts fetuses to doctor assisted suicide essay between abortions and euthanasia: [19].
In summary, we have argued Person A committed an act of euthanasia if and only if 1 A killed B or let her die; 2 A intended to kill B; 3 the intention specified in 2 was at least partial cause of the action specified in 1 ; 4 the causal journey from the intention specified in 2 to the action specified in 1 is more or less in accordance with A's plan of action; 5 A's killing of B is a voluntary doctor assisted suicide essay 6 doctor assisted suicide essay motive for the action specified in 1the motive standing behind the intention specified in 2is the good of the person killed.
Wreen also considered a seventh requirement: " 7 The good specified in 6 is, or at least includes, the avoidance of evil", although as Wreen noted in the paper, doctor assisted suicide essay, he was not convinced that the restriction was required. In discussing his definition, Wreen noted the difficulty of justifying euthanasia when faced with the notion of the subject's " right to life ". In response, Wreen argued that euthanasia has to be voluntary, and that "involuntary euthanasia is, as such, a great wrong".
For example, in a discussion of euthanasia presented in by the European Association of Palliative Care EPAC Ethics Task Force, the authors offered: "Medicalized killing of a person without the person's consent, whether nonvoluntary where the person is unable to consent or involuntary against the person's will is not euthanasia: it is murder.
Hence, euthanasia can be voluntary only. Euthanasia may be classified into three types, according to whether a person gives informed consent : voluntary, non-voluntary and involuntary.
There is a debate within the medical and bioethics literature about whether or not the non-voluntary and by extension, involuntary killing of patients can be regarded as euthanasia, irrespective of intent or the patient's circumstances.
In the definitions offered by Beauchamp and Davidson and, later, by Wreen, consent on the part of the patient was not considered as one of their criteria, although it may have been required to justify euthanasia. Voluntary euthanasia is conducted with the consent of the patient.
Active voluntary euthanasia is legal in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, doctor assisted suicide essay. Passive voluntary euthanasia is legal throughout the US per Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health. When the patient brings about their own death with the assistance of a physician, the term assisted suicide is often used instead. Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland and the U. states of California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont.
Non-voluntary euthanasia is conducted when the consent of the patient is unavailable. Examples include child euthanasiawhich is illegal worldwide but decriminalised under certain specific circumstances in the Netherlands under the Groningen Protocol. Passive forms of non-voluntary euthanasia i. withholding treatment are legal in a number doctor assisted suicide essay countries under specified conditions.
Involuntary euthanasia is conducted against the will of the patient. Voluntary, non-voluntary and involuntary types can be further divided into passive or active variants. While some authors consider these terms to be misleading and unhelpful, they are nonetheless commonly used. In some cases, such as the administration of increasingly necessary, but toxic doses of painkillersthere is a debate whether or not to regard the practice as active or passive. Euthanasia was practiced in Ancient Greece and Rome : for example, doctor assisted suicide essay, hemlock was employed as a means of hastening death on the island of Keaa technique also employed in Marseilles.
Euthanasia, in the sense of the deliberate hastening of a person's death, was supported by SocratesPlato and Seneca the Elder in the ancient world, although Hippocrates appears to have spoken against the practicewriting "I will not prescribe a deadly drug to please someone, nor give advice that may cause his death" noting there is some debate in the literature about whether or not this was intended to encompass euthanasia.
The term euthanasiain the earlier sense of supporting someone as they died, was used for the first time by Francis Bacon. In his work, Euthanasia medicahe chose this ancient Greek word and, in doing so, distinguished between euthanasia interiorthe preparation of the soul for death, and euthanasia exteriorwhich was intended to make the end of life easier and painless, in exceptional circumstances by shortening life, doctor assisted suicide essay.
That the ancient meaning of an easy death came to the fore again in the early modern period can be seen from its definition in the 18th century Zedlers Universallexikon :.
Euthanasia: a very gentle and quiet death, which happens without painful convulsions. The word comes from ευ, benewell, and θανατος, morsdeath. The concept of euthanasia in the sense of alleviating the process of death goes back to the medical historian, doctor assisted suicide essay, Karl Friedrich Heinrich Marxwho drew on Bacon's philosophical ideas.
According to Marx, doctor assisted suicide essay, a doctor had a moral duty to ease the suffering of death through encouragement, support and mitigation using medication. Such an "alleviation of death" reflected the contemporary zeitgeistbut was brought into the medical canon of responsibility doctor assisted suicide essay the first time by Marx. Marx also stressed the distinction between the theological care of the soul of sick people from the physical care and medical treatment by doctors.
Euthanasia in its modern sense has always been strongly opposed in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Thomas Aquinas opposed both and argued that the practice of euthanasia contradicted our natural human instincts of survival, [34] as did Francois Ranchin —a French physician and professor of medicine, and Michael Boudewijns —a physician and teacher.
Inthe publication of Caspar Questel's De pulvinari morientibus non-subtrahend" On the pillow of which the dying should not be deprived "initiated debate on the topic.
Questel described various customs which were employed at the time to hasten the death of the dying, including the sudden removal of a pillow, which was believed to accelerate deathand argued against their use, as doing so was "against the laws of God and Nature".
Suicide and euthanasia became more accepted during the Age of Enlightenment. In the mids, the use of morphine to treat "the pains of death" emerged, with John Warren recommending its use in A similar use of chloroform was revealed by Joseph Bullar in However, in neither case was it recommended that the use should be to hasten death.
In Samuel Williams, a schoolteacher, initiated the contemporary doctor assisted suicide essay debate through a speech given at the Birmingham Speculative Club in England, which was subsequently published in a one-off publication entitled Essays of the Birmingham Speculative Clubthe collected works of a number of members of an amateur philosophical society.
That in all cases of hopeless and painful illness, it should be the recognized duty of the medical attendant, whenever so desired by the patient, to administer chloroform or such other anaesthetic as may by-and-bye supersede chloroform — so as to destroy consciousness at once, and put the doctor assisted suicide essay to a quick and painless death; all needful precautions being adopted to prevent any possible abuse of such duty; and means being taken to establish, beyond the possibility of doubt or question, that the remedy was applied at the express wish of the patient.
The essay was favourably reviewed in The Saturday Reviewbut an editorial against the essay appeared in The Spectator. tied inextricably to a number of objections to the Christian doctrine of the sanctity of human life", doctor assisted suicide essay. The rise of the euthanasia movement in the United States coincided with the so-called Gilded Agea time of social and technological change that encompassed an "individualistic conservatism that praised laissez-faire economics, scientific methodand rationalism ", along with major depressionsindustrialisation and conflict between corporations and labour unions.
Robert Ingersoll argued for euthanasia, stating in that where someone is suffering from a terminal illness, such as terminal cancer, they should have a right to end their pain through suicide. Felix Adler offered a similar approach, although, unlike Ingersoll, Adler did not reject religion.
In fact, he argued from an Ethical Culture framework. InAdler argued that those suffering from overwhelming pain should have the right to commit suicide, and, doctor assisted suicide essay, furthermore, that it should be permissible for a doctor to assist — thus making Adler the first "prominent American" to argue for suicide in cases where people were suffering from chronic illness.
The first attempt to legalise euthanasia took place in the United States, when Henry Hunt introduced legislation into the General Assembly of Ohio in Hall had watched her mother die after an extended battle with liver cancerand had dedicated herself to ensuring that others would not have to endure the same suffering.
Towards this end she engaged in an extensive letter writing campaign, recruited Lurana Sheldon and Maud Ballington Boothand organised a doctor assisted suicide essay on euthanasia at the annual meeting of the American Humane Association doctor assisted suicide essay — described by Jacob Appel as the first significant public debate on the topic in the 20th century. Hunt's bill called for the administration of an anesthetic to bring about a patient's death, so long as the person is of lawful age and sound mind, and was suffering from a fatal injury, an irrevocable illness, or great physical pain.
It also required that the case be heard by a physician, required informed consent in front of three witnesses, and required the attendance of three physicians who had to agree that the patient's recovery was impossible. A motion to reject the bill outright was voted down, but doctor assisted suicide essay bill failed to pass, 79 to Along with the Ohio euthanasia proposal, in Assemblyman Ross Gregory introduced a proposal to permit euthanasia to the Iowa legislature.
However, the Iowa legislation was broader in scope than that offered in Ohio. It allowed for the death of any person of at least ten years of age who suffered from an ailment that would prove fatal and cause extreme pain, should they be of sound mind and express a desire to artificially hasten their death.
In addition, it allowed for infants to be euthanised if they were sufficiently deformed, and permitted guardians to request euthanasia on behalf of their wards. The proposal proved to be controversial. After the euthanasia debate reduced in intensity, resurfacing periodically, doctor assisted suicide essay, but not returning to the same level of debate until the s in the Doctor assisted suicide essay Kingdom.
Euthanasia opponent Ian Dowbiggin argues that the early membership of the Euthanasia Society of America ESA reflected how many perceived euthanasia at the time, often seeing it as a eugenics matter rather than an issue concerning individual rights.
The Voluntary Euthanasia Legalisation Society was founded in by Charles Killick Millard now called Dignity in Dying. The movement campaigned for the legalisation of euthanasia in Great Britain. In JanuaryKing George V was given a fatal dose of morphine and cocaine to hasten his death, doctor assisted suicide essay.
At the time he was suffering from cardio-respiratory failure, and the decision to end his life was made by his physician, Lord Dawson. A 24 July killing of a severely disabled infant in Nazi Germany was described in a BBC "Genocide Under the Nazis Timeline" as the first "state-sponsored euthanasia", doctor assisted suicide essay. The "euthanasia campaign" of mass murder gathered momentum on 14 January when the "handicapped" were killed with gas vans and killing centres, eventually leading to the deaths of 70, adult Germans.
He explains that the Nazi version of "euthanasia" was based on the work of Adolf Jostwho published The Right to Death Das Recht auf den Tod in Lifton writes:. Jost argued that control over the death of the individual must ultimately belong to the social organism, the state.
This concept is in direct opposition to the Anglo-American concept of euthanasia, which emphasizes the individual's 'right to die' or 'right to death' or 'right to his or her own death,' as the ultimate human claim. In contrast, Jost was pointing to the state's right to kill, doctor assisted suicide essay. Ultimately the argument was biological: 'The rights to death [are] the key to the fitness of life.
In modern terms, the use of "euthanasia" in the context of Action T4 is seen to be a euphemism to disguise a program of genocidedoctor assisted suicide essay, in which people were killed on the grounds of "disabilities, religious beliefs, and discordant individual values".
On 6 Januarythe Euthanasia Society of America presented to the New York State Legislature a petition to legalize euthanasia, signed by leading Protestant and Jewish ministers, the largest group of religious leaders ever to have taken this stance. A similar petition had been sent to the New York Legislature insigned by approximately 1, New York physicians, doctor assisted suicide essay.
Why Legalizing #Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide is a Bad Idea
, time: 6:40Brittany Maynard: My right to death with dignity at 29 | CNN
Cheap essay writing service. For professional homework help services, Assignment Essays is the place to be. Whether you are looking for essay, coursework, research, or term paper help, or help with any other assignments, someone is always available to help euthanasia & assisted suicide – should euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide be legal? felon voting – should felons who have completed their sentence (incarceration, probation, and parole) be allowed to vote? fighting in h0ckey – should fighting be allowed in hockey? fracking – should the united states continue fracking Mar 24, · Allowing physician-assisted suicide would be a grave mistake for four reasons. First, it would endanger the weak and vulnerable. Second, it would corrupt the practice of medicine and the doctor
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