One of the most public and controversial social issues today surrounds the issues of euthanasia. The outcome of that debate will profoundly affect family relationships, interaction between doctors and patients, and concepts of basic ethical behavior. With so much at stake, more is needed than a duel of one-liners, slogans and sound bites. Euthanasia is a rapidly growing social problem. The opinions on this topic are influenced by different groups and beliefs, such as religion, culture, governmental standards, and personal beliefs causing euthanasia to become a major social problem in the world today. Euthanasia has been an intense issue all over the world causing a constant debate among differing opinions. Oregon and the Netherlands have legalized euthanasia giving permission to the physician for the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit. .
Purely at an objective point of view, euthanasia is definitely considered a social .
problem. Euthanasia is defined by The American Heritage Dictionary as "the action of .
killing an individual for reasons considered to be merciful". Here, killing is described as .
the physical action where one individual actively kills another. Euthanasia is tolerated in .
the medical field under certain circumstances when a patient is suffering profoundly and .
death is inevitable. However, the word "euthanasia" is much more difficult to define. .
Each person may define euthanasia differently. Who is to decide whether a death is good .
or not? Is any form of death good? All of these questions can be answered differently by .
each person. It is generally taken today to mean that act which a health care professional .
carries out to help his/her patient achieve a good death. There should be no conflict .
between hospice and euthanasia, both are valid options in a caring society. Both are .
appropriate to different people with differing values.