The origin of the word euthanasia is from the Greek eu meaning "good" and thanos meaning "death" ("All"). Euthanasia has been traced as far back as ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. These ancient societies approved of voluntary euthanasia. Religion increased as time passed and life was viewed to be sacred. This caused euthanasia to be seen as wrong in all forms (Home). Euthanasia is the action of inducing the painless death of a person for reasons assumed to be merciful ("Death"). This usually means killing in the name of passion ("Frequently"). Euthanasia and assisted suicide are subject to much debate over whether it should be legal and whether it is ethical and moral to allow it to be done.
There are many forms of euthanasia. They are passive euthanasia, active euthanasia, and involuntary euthanasia. The patients are not required to have to extend their lives for as long as possible (Battin 336). Allowing a person to die a natural death by withdrawing some form of support is passive euthanasia. Some examples are removing life support, stopping medical procedures and medications, not delivering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and depriving a patient of food and water ("All"). It is widely accepted for a mentally competent patient to refuse treatment ("Assisted). Technically, passive euthanasia is legal because the patient is dying of a natural disease (Cundiff 2-3). Causing the death of a patient through direct action is active euthanasia ("All"). The most common active euthanasia performed is an overdose of medication (Cundiff 3). Active euthanasia is considered murder, therefore is against the law (1). Involuntary euth!.
anasia is usually considered mercy killing, which is when someone kills a suffering individual who is unable to request or perform the act themselves (Thomasma 20).
Some patients request something else besides euthanasia. They sometimes request assisted suicide.
