Does Euthanasia Equal Murder?

             The debate of the sanctity of and right to life no longer simply deals with the unborn, but increasingly the elderly as well. The very laws once designed to protect human beings' inalienable right to life now increasingly allow the elimination of those considered unworthy to live. Doctors trained to heal and prolong life are now shortening and even destroying life altogether. Physician-assisted suicide is becoming a cure and an acceptable medical procedure. But this is murder because it's an act that intentionally ends the life of a human being that is not motivated by self-defense.
             Webster's dictionary defines murder as putting an end to human life. Murder in the criminal sense is ending a human life without the motivation of self-defense. Self-defense is when you feel a threat to your own self or your country. For example, killing an enemy soldier on a battlefield isn't murder because the conflict is such that one of the two soldiers will have to die. The same is true when someone breaks into your house with a gun you wouldn't be blamed for murder because you are protecting yourself and your family. Therefore, murder can be most closely defined as intentionally ending a human life when it poses no threat.
             Physician-assisted suicide is closely related to the term euthanasia. Euthanasia is a Greek word meaning "good death." However, there are two forms of euthanasia, active and passive. Passive euthanasia is the withholding of potentially life-prolonging treatment from a terminally ill patient. For example, a family may choose not to resuscitate a man after a second heart attack. This form of euthanasia is viewed as letting the patient die. On the other hand, active euthanasia is the deliberate act of ending a life by the administering of a lethal dose of a drug. The appropriate use of passive euthanasia is well accepted by doctors and citizens alike. There comes a time when we should stop resuscitation and other forms of med...

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Does Euthanasia Equal Murder?. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 06:37, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/81774.html