Importance of the Issue of Euthanasia
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Euthanasia has become an important issue in the protection of human dignity. It has been in the news a great deal lately because of the crusade of the so-called "suicide doctor," Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who has "assisted" in 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). Wicker offers the case of Dax Cowart as an argument for euthanasia. Dax was severely burned in a propane gas explosion and suffered through many painful treatments during which he repeatedly begged the doctors and nurses to let him die. His mother refused to allow this and signed the necessary consent forms for his treat
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The law holds that a person who takes an active role in causing another person's death has committed homicide (Urofsky 119).
This has not stopped the practice, and it has not stopped the confusion in individual cases where there is some uncertainty as to the role of the friend or family member. The courts and legislators have clearly been reluctant to deal with this issue directly.
Suffering takes many forms, and the suffering of the family of the patient should not be ignored. Shertz and Blendon note that surveys show that half of those who say they would want euthanasia would accept death so as to not burden their families and not, as is widely supposed, because they had pain (Shertz and Blendon 590).
The family must face difficult decisions when a terminally ill patient involved. Often, they will have discussed the matter beforehand. More often, they will have not, and the family is still the decision-making unit faced with the need to balance the suffering of the patient with the possibility of relief. In addition, the family itself will be suffering in sympathy with the patient as well as by the onerousness of the decision that has to be made. In nonvoluntary active euthanasia, physicians (or family members or frien
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3303
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)
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