such a procedure, does this violate the ethical codes of the practice of medicine? These are some of the obvious and reoccurring questions in the controversial ethics pertaining to Euthanasia.
             The controversial issues of Euthanasia have direct relevance to the field of psychology in the judgment of whether or not an individual is "competent" to make such a determination to end their life. For an example, clinical and counseling psychologists often are consulted by physicians regarding DNR (Do Not Recesitate) orders to examine the psychological stability of the patient to make a life ending decision. Additional parallels that relate psychology to Euthanasia are an individual's moral development and how it effects their decision making process' in relation to moral dilemmas in the law. Everyone is put in situations where they are forced to form an opinion that potentially goes against an accepted or legal policy. Psychology examines and theorizes how people may react in such a situation as well as analyzes the varying factors that may lead up to an individual's decision in such a predicament.
             Examples of this, relevant to Euthanasia, would be jurors sitting in on an assisted suicide case such as those obtaining to Dr. Jack Kevorkian. In this situation, the jurors were faced with the psychological decision to either declare that it is wrong to assist in one's death because it is legally prohibited. Or, on the contrary, that the suffering and pain of a terminally ill patient was ended allowing the patient to die in a peaceful manner; delineating that the action should be deemed honorable due to its inherent value rather than its consequences.
             There are various types of Euthanasia that must be explained before further discussing the topic. If the act is undertaken at the explicit request of a competent patient, it is defined as voluntary euthanasia. Involuntary euthanasia is when this actio...