Euthanasia, the intentional act of causing death, can be considered one of the most prevalent problems when dealing with the ethics of patient treatment. ... The legal ramifications and the patient's financial situation must also be taken into consideration before making the final choice between life and death. The legal aspects surrounding physician-assisted suicide have been debated in several court cases. ... The primary duty of the physician is to secure the well-being of their patient by encouraging them to follow the recommended procedures involved in treatment promoting dea...

• Word Count: 1271
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography

Also known as mercy killings and physician-assisted suicide, it is currently legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and two American states, Oregon and Washington. ... Furthermore, choosing voluntary euthanasia is a right that should be legal in more countries. ... ("BBC Ethics: Forms of Euthanasia," n.d.) ... ("BBC Ethics: Forms of Euthanasia," n.d.) ... Unfortunately, it is not legal in very many places and an innumerable amount of people are left to die slow, painful deaths. ...

• Word Count: 1710
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

In 1646, Common Wealth of Massachusetts legally accepted the death penalty for unruly children. ... In support of their argument, supporters of Euthanasia believe that under strict legal precautions, doctors should be allowed to practice euthanasia. ... The patient himself should be given the right to end his life legally. ...

• Word Count: 2345
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The debate of the legalization of Euthanasia hangs heavily on the ethics of the passing of life. ... "[Euthanasia] should be universally available, legal, safe, painless, and suitable for the gentle parting in one's own home with loved ones present" (Barbara Coombs-Lee). ... The incurability of a disease should constitute an option for the patient to end their own life legally and comfortably. ... " (Salvation Army Positional Statement) However, this will become a large burden on the family and proxy decision makers of the patient but similar decisions are already being ma...

• Word Count: 1565
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Although society is against killing, physician assisted suicide is steady with medical ethics. ... The law did not go in effect until November 4, 1997 and now assisted suicide is legal in Oregon (Torr 98). Although it is legal there are stipulations for it, such as the physician does not self-administer the lethal medications because that would be considered euthanasia (Caplan and Snyder 9). ... Some people think if euthanasia became legal it could possibly harm society too. ... Although it is very controversial, why prolong the pain and suffering a person is going through or make them move to...

• Word Count: 1639
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

"No matter what your definition, Euthanasia is ethical, and physicians should be allowed to assist in it legally."" ... Therefore, Euthanasia should and must be a legal choice. ... "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."" ... It was considered legally and morally to be a permissible way to die. ...

• Word Count: 1631
• Approx Pages: 7

As of today, the only state where any form of mercy killing is legal in the United States is Oregon. Euthanasia is also completely legal in the Netherlands. This act became legal in the Netherlands on November 29, 2000, when the Dutch Parliament voted to legalize physician assisted suicide in agreement with certain stipulations. ... This meaning that once euthanasia is legal in one state or country people from neighboring areas will take advantage of the process. ... Doctors are human and subject to temptation ( www.cfm.org.uk/ethics/twelve.htm ). ...

• Word Count: 1976
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

If assisted suicide were legal, people would not have to go to extremes or take brutal measures to end their suffering. ... The outcome of these legal struggles is hard to predict, but the cause has picked up momentum since the story of a cancer patient, Brittany Maynard, went viral. There is opposition coming from people with concerns regarding doctor's ethics, as well as religious groups and disability activists who believe that assisted suicide suggests that the lives of disabled, old, and ill individuals are not worth living. ... Because assisted suicide is not legal in California, Ca...

• Word Count: 2139
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The Death with Dignity Act empowers physicians with the legal ability to provide aid in dying (the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications) to the patient; however, the act specifically prohibits euthanasia, (where anyone other than the patient directly administers the prescribed medication to terminate life). ... This type of euthanasia is commonly practiced in the United States legally, and remains the center of many bioethical debates (Encyclopedia of Bioethics 564)...

• Word Count: 2439
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

One such opinion is that of Ezekiel Emanuel, ethics chief of the National Institutes of Health, who said - regarding researchers who have failed to prove that pain is the essential reason for the terminally ill to use euthanasia - "To the contrary, all such studies have documented that physical pain plays a very small role in motivating patients" interest in or requests for euthanasia. ... Knowing this is it morally, ethically, or legally permissible for us to take their requests for death at face value? ... Daniel Callahan, president of the Hastings Center, an organization assisting termina...

• Word Count: 1510
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

This also eliminates a doctor's legal responsibility for a person's death. ... Polls taken between the years of 1989-1990 found that 5-7 Americans of every 10 believe that the terminally ill should be able to die with the doctor's assistance legally. ... In March 1991 there was a report by Interfaith Institute, Park Ridge Center for the Study of Heal, Faith and Ethics. ...

• Word Count: 1890
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Beauchamp, Professor of Philosophy at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics wrote an article entitled "Euthanasia" for Encarta (the online encyclopedia), describing the different forms of euthanasia as follows: a) active euthanasia is painlessly putting individuals to death for merciful reasons, as when a doctor administers a lethal dose of medication to a patient; b) passive euthanasia involves not doing something to prevent death, as when doctors refrain from using an artificial respirator to keep alive a terminally ill patient; c) voluntary euthanasia, a person asks to die ...

• Word Count: 1444
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Euthanasia The word euthanasia is derived from the Greek word eu for good and thantos which means death and originally referred to intentional mercy killing. But the word it euthanasia has acquired a more complex meaning in modern times. Proponents of euthanasia believe that a dying patient has th...

• Word Count: 1461
• Approx Pages: 6

Euthanasia has been such a controversial issue that the government does not allow terminally ill patients to perform euthanasia on themselves and it is frowned upon by healthcare professionals because of work ethics. ... When it comes to deciding whether or not euthanasia should be legal the conversation of Jack Kevorkian almost always comes up. ...

• Word Count: 1618
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography

As mentioned previously according to Kant's ethics there are only two options a human can follow and that is right or wrong however in a utilitarian perspective there are only two options a human can choose from which are happiness or sadness. ... People can choose to drink or smoke because they have a freedom of choice on consumption (legal substances) and the society respects one another for individuals to make a responsible choice for them. ...

• Word Count: 1960
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate