Euthanasia & the Protection of Human Dignity
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Euthanasia has become an important issue in the protection of human dignity. It has been in the news a good deal lately because of the crusade of the so-called "suicide doctor," Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who has "assisted" at some 17 or 18 suicides over the past few years, all of people who were facing some debilitating and painful degenerative disease. As medical science becomes more adept at prolonging life, but not necessarily at making that life valuable, euthanasia becomes an option to be considered by those who suffer, those who love them, and those who are charged with their care. Euthanasia comes from two Greek words meaning "good death" or "happy death," and the term refers to any action that brings a painless death to a person suffering from an injury, disease, or the ravages of age. There is a distinction between active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. Passive euthanasia refers to the withdrawal of "heroic" measures that keep a moribund person alive. Active euthanasia means taking a positive action that leads directly to the death of another person, and active euthanasia is considered murder in most legal and religious systems (Urofsky 15). Active euthanasia should be legalized. It is first of all a humane way of ending life in the event of a terminal illness or debilitating and incurable injury. The legalization of active euthanasia would also end the physical and emotional suffering not only of the patient but also of the immediate family members. Furtherm
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uthanasia, physicians (or family members or friends) make the decision to immediately end the lives of incompetent patients who seem to be in enormous pain or suffering, and since physicians are more and more wary of making any such decision which will leave them open to legal action, the process devolves to the family. As noted, among these patients may be incompetent adults who previously expressed the will to be killed under such circumstances as well as infants who it is simply presumed would, if they could, express the same wish (Tong 31).
Often the effect the partner's deterioration has on the other partner depends on the degree of assistance the caretaker can get from family, community, and friends. One writer cites the case of an 87 year old man whose 85 year old wife is comatose from Alzheimer's. He spends each day by her bed talking softly to her, though long before her hospitalization she had ceased to recognize him. The strain is greater on him because of the anger he feels that his children and grandchildren will not visit the frail wife in the hospital. Under other circumstances, the hurt of the illness would still be there, but the old man would have the support of his family to help reduce the burden. The eff
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Shertz Blendon, Jack Kevorkian, Dr Kevorkian, , active euthanasia, Medicine Fall, Insurance October, Dougherty Charles, JAMA February, Underwriter October, Economist July, health care, prolong life, care system, human suffering, health care system, medical science, alleviate human suffering, 7 1991, means taking, october 7 1991, heroic measures, euthanasia passive, partner's deterioration partner, effect partner's deterioration,
Approximate Word count = 1940
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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