"Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide".
Death is a difficult process and knowing when you are going to pass makes it more stressful for the patient and family. Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide are very controversial issues. Whether euthanasia is defined as refusing prolonged life, assisting a suicide, or active euthanasia, it forces society to confront its fears toward death. Refusing prolonged life is not to extend life through artificial means, and assisting suicide is having physician help end ones life. Western culture seems to fear the thought of aging and dying, although a part of life inevitable is death. The aspects of euthanasia that are controversial involve not only death, but also the right to liberty, privacy, and control over one's own body. .
Euthanasia is the intentional killing of a dependent human being. There are two types of euthanasia: active and passive. Active euthanasia is deliberately killing someone; for example, injecting the person with lethal drugs. The failure to prescribe or act when someone needs medical attention is passive euthanasia (Hoyer & Roodin, 2003). Physician-Assisted Suicide is similar to euthanasia; it is when a physician provides an individual with information, direction, and means to take his or her own life. The difference between the two is that a physician does physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia could be done by anyone. .
In the United States, it is illegal to perform euthanasia. The Supreme Court decided that the states have the right to prohibit physician-assisted suicide, although there was no federal regulation on the practices. This allowed the states to determine whether they would allow physicians to practice these acts. The Supreme Court voted unanimously that there was no constitutional right for these practices (Hoyer & Roodin, 2003). However, in Oregon, it is legal to perform physician-assisted suicide.
