Euthanasia

             Euthanasia has become an ethical concern because of its treatment to patients who are dying. Euthanasia, in its broadest sense, means the quick and painful death of a patient due to incurable or intolerable pains being experienced. The usual notion that we get from euthanasia is that it is pulling of the plug, where machines that support the life of a patient are withdrawn because of the inevitable suffering and imminent death. But it could also be termed as the active killing of a patient suffering. Usually, the scenario for fast killing is the administration of lethal drugs to the patient that would affect a quick and painless death in minutes. To this, we term different kinds of euthanasia as active and passive euthanasia. But setting aside the various forms of euthanasia known, there still rests the ethical issue and consideration in proceeding such a practice- one of which is the ethical issue. Is has been said in traditional doctrine that life is sacred and should not be taken by any person. Furthermore, we must preserve it by all necessary means. The distinction that arises from active and passive euthanasia raises the ethical question: Is active killing morally permissible than just letting someone die?
             The first ever-recorded assisted suicide was dated on March 26, 1998 in Oregon USA. It was a woman that was suffering from terminal breast cancer, which was given lethal drugs by her physician. The word euthanasia comes from the Greek word "eu" which means good and "thanatos" which means death. In sum, euthanasia means good death. At the time of the Greeks, euthanasia was commonly practiced that it never raised any controversy in the medical circle of those times. In fact, it was even recommended as an alternative for hopeless medical cases of dying patients in order to preserve dignity and avoid the pangs and travails brought about by a fatal and incurable disease. It is only in recent times that euthana...

More Essays:

APA     MLA     Chicago
Euthanasia. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 14:48, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/26198.html