Most of the reasons why terminally ill patients request doctors to assist them in committing suicide might be caused by problems such as hopelessness because there is no effective treatment, anxiety over doctors' very expensive fees, and regret for their family's burden of taking care of them. ... As Maine Medical Society's Executive Vice President Gordon Smith stated, "physician-assisted suicide goes against 2,000 years of medical ethics". He backed up his claim by using statements stated in the Code of Medical Ethics. ... The opponents of the legalization of physician-assist...

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An informed doctrine requires physicians to provide patients with all relevant information about a proposed procedure or treatment. ... For example, a patient's presence in a hospital ward, ICU, or clinic does not represent implied consent to all treatments and procedures. ... Britain: Medical Ethics of the Past. ... Nazi Medical War Crimes . ... Germany Medical Encyclopedia of Ethics....

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Euthanasia raises many religious, medical, and ethical issues. ... Passive euthanasia, on the other hand, is allowing the patient to die due to lack of treatment. ... Catholics also allow the refusing "forms of treatment that would secure a precarious and burdensome prolongation of life (557)." ... Euthanasia is strongly affiliated to medical and ethical debate. ... These "advanced directive occupy an important place on the debate about the limits of patient autonomy, the right to refuse life-saving medical treatment and euthanasia (Keown, 297) The "wills" are signed when the presumable patien...

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The medical service already has enough pressures of its own, is it really fair to add another one to its load? Also would the decision made by the doctor be made on sound medical reasons or would it be made on depending on personal views of the doctor in question. ... Medical advances in recent years have made it possible to keep terminally ill people alive for an extended period of time, without any hope of improvement or recovery. ... Most states now legally allow the making of such wills that instruct medical personnel to stop treatment or refuse life-support treatment in cases that are see...

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In response to this, some medical schools have started teaching students how to break bad news to patients.11 The Ethics in Medicine Web site at the University of Washington School of Medicine contains a six-step protocol titled "Breaking Bad News." ... But in some cases it is only after a treatment has been started that a proper diagnosis and prognosis can be made.1 Treatment that can be withheld can also be withdrawn. ... Decisions for writing a DNR order are based on the patient's preference, determinations of medical futility, and the patient's quality of life.8 The presence ...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Modern research has brought medicine to an all time peak in both diagnoses and treatments. ... Passive euthanasia is also allowing nature to take its course without medical intervention. ... The refusal of treatment places the decision in the category of passive euthanasia. Thus all omission of life extending treatments is the acceptance of passive euthanasia. ... The disease had progressed too far for medical intervention. ...

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However, such a statement fails to note that virtually all pain can be eliminated or at least reduced significantly if proper treatment is provided. ... What is more, assisted suicide violates historically accepted codes of medical ethics, which have never sanctioned euthanasia since it is against the Hippocratic oath. Neither swearing it means the medical practitioner cannot administer deadly medicine to anyone nor suggest such counsel. ... It gives the medical practitioner power, which can be too easily abused, and a level of responsibility he should not rightly be entitled to have. It is ...

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Euthanasia Today we struggle with the medical ethics on issues of life and death in a culture that denies the terminally and the infirm the right to maintain control over when to end their lives. ... Fewer people oppose passive euthanasia, which is the withdrawal of life sustaining medical treatment. ... A living will is a legal document addressed to a patients family and health care providers stating what type of treatment the patient wishes or does not wish to receive if he becomes terminally ill, unconscious, or permanently comatose (Mc Graw-Hill). ...

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Either way, the actual definition of euthanasia is, "The act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment." ... In California there are DNR or do not recesitate laws that prevent medical care givers form acting on a patient that does not want to be saved. ... Another thing to consider is the medical aspects of this topic. ... There are many illnesses that were once terminal but now thanks to medical advancements are now able to be cured. ...

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There would be some cases in which family members would want the parent's money instead of it being spent for hopeless medical treatment and request that the parent be put out of his or her misery. ... From the legal standpoint, this is simply legalizing murder if you have a Medical Doctor degree. ...

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All the different parts of euthanasia are part of good medical practice, endorsed by law, when they are properly carried out. ... In the medical field, euthanasia may be viewed as active or passive. ... However, in some cases, withholding treatment can be good medical practice. ...

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This life prolonging treatment caught up with her. ... This issue receives considerable attention in medical publications. ... In the medical aspect, there have been many reports by terminally ill people complaining of severe pain. ... "Medical technology has acquired an enormous capacity to extend life, but may mislead at the same time, making people believe that treatment is always worth while (Birenbaum)." ... It is time for all who have any true sense of compassion toward the dying, and who expect to receive compassionate care when they themselves are dying, to work unremittingly to fos...

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Such a act would include removing life-support equipment, stopping medical procedures, stopping food and water and allowing the person to die. ... Passive euthanasia is the process of hastening the death of a person by withdrawing some sort of treatment. This includes removing life-support, stopping medical procedures and medications, stopping food and water to the patient and thus allowing him to die. Or not delivering C P R or other resuscitating treatment and allowing the person whose heart has stopped to die. ... During the 20th century, major scientific and medical advances have greatly e...

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In passive euthanasia, a patient is allowed to die by withdrawing or withholding treatment. ... Lastly, indirect euthanasia happens when treatment is provided for the patient and it actually has the effect of speeding up their death. ... There are numerous advances in medical technology that can save someone's life when they are meant to die. ... Also, due to medical advances in technology, doctors are able to create life in labs. ... A person's medical history should be very carefully evaluated before death would be considered a last resort. ...

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According to the medical dictionary, death with dignity "often includes the implementation or withholding of various treatments as defined by the competent person and/or person with power of attorney.... This law would go against the Hippocratic Oath that all physicians must pledge to follow throughout their whole medical career. ... "I will follow that method of treatment, which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. ...

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Abstract Modern medical technology has made it possible to extend the lives of many far beyond when they would have died in the past. ... Passive euthanasia refers to someone's helping another person to die by withholding or withdrawing life- sustaining treatment, including the administration of food and water. ... Finally, in the early 1970s, other voluntary euthanasia societies were formed in the Netherlands and in Australia "as the two edged blade of modern medical technology became obvious. ... The medical experience has taught that the incurable man may ask for his end under the ...

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Clearly, this is not an easy situation to handle and therefore has become a great source of controversy in the medical field. Whether or not to give professional, medical assistance to a requesting patient regarding their suicide involves moral, legal, and even personal opinions on its value and precedence. ... To keep a patient, with Alzheimer's for example, on medication and treatment for many years may be doing more harm than good. ...

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Before a physician is allowed to practice medicine, he/she takes the Hippocratic Oath, which is described by Encyclopedia Britannica as " a pledge to prescribe only beneficial treatments, according to his abilities and judgment; to refrain from causing harm or hurt". ... Often, the terminally ill patients lack access to hospice care and adequate treatment of pain and depression. ... Linda Emmanuel, the American Medical Associations' Vice-President for Ethical Standards and Director of its Institute for Ethics, says, "This is a defining moment in medicine. ...

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In opposition to this idea of assisted suicide are many physicians and medical professionals. In a statement made by the American Medical Association, they said, "The intentional termination of the life of one human being by another, mercy killing is contrary to that for which the medical profession stands and is contrary to the policy of the American Medical Association"(Weir, 34). ... These treatments allow people to go on and finish up the remainder of their lives with comfort and ease. ...

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Although many physicians oppose assisted suicide, arguing that patients should seek proper medical care, most terminally ill people die in excessive pain due to inadequate care. Some terminally ill choose assisted suicide because of large medical bills that begin to add up. ... If someone writes in a living will, while they are still declared mentally stable, that they would not want their life to be prolonged by certain treatments or life support, then the law would have to respect that. ...

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"It is clear that a patient's decision to ask for a cessation in treatment, reflecting his own preference for death rather than for a continuation of discomfort or suffering, must be respected, barring exceptional circumstances- (Behnke 17). ... "Any assistance on the part of the doctor in hastening a patient's death is in violation of the ethics and tradition of the medical profession."" ...

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