Euthanasia: Between Personal Moral and Civic Ethics (original) (raw)
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Euthanasia-The Right to a Dignified Death
In the contemporary society, ethical issues raise more and more controversial debates. This has also emerged regarding the concept of euthanasia, given that it involves the decision of the patient who is facing the last phase of his life. Since this issue raises more and more debates, we consider it appropriate to bring into discussion the ethical aspects involved by the decision of dying a dignified death.
Contact International Journal of Research On Social and Natural Sciences, 2017
Of late, euthanasia is a moral problem in medical science as well as applied ethics. Medical science has tried to solve the problem of euthanasia in various ways. In the present article we have discussed elaborately about euthanasia and tried to show that now-a-days euthanasia is an ethical issue in not only our country but also in the world. In the second part of the article we have tried to define the word 'euthanasia'. Thirdly we have introduced different types of euthanasia in details. Finally we have discussed about the morality of euthanasia. The article concludes that all countries must consider legalizing euthanasia because it can save millions of patients around the globe hours of grueling pain and suffering instead of dying a peaceful death.
Contemplating the controversy Exploring the Ethics and Realities of Euthanasia
International Journal of Science and Research Archive, 2024
Euthanasia is one of the most debatable and emotive subjects and has remained controversial on ethical, medical and legal grounds in 20th century and it still is. During all this this time public opinion, decisions of courts, and legal and medical approaches to the issue of euthanasia has been conflicting. It has sharply divided scientific & unscientific public to its supporters and opponents. All major religions are strongly against legalizing killing. A majority of the intellectuals are of the opinion that the sanctity of life, as a primary principle, should be given due consideration before legalizing euthanasia or mercy killing. In the current study authors will probe into the approaches of various countries, in different regions of the world, towards Euthanasia. In some Western European countries, euthanasia is a legal medical procedure backed up by the law and it is conducted for the ease of the critically ill patients. On the other hand, we do have countries where euthanasia is considered a murder like any other murder. On the third place, there are many states where euthanasia is a murder committed under some specific circumstances. In this manuscript the authors have tried to discuss different approaches towards euthanasia; how it is dealt with in different countries; it’s advantages, disadvantages and a comparison between the countries where euthanasia is considered as a murder and between the countries where it is a completely legal medical procedure.
Euthanasia Between the Right to Live and the Freedom to Die
Journal for Freedom of Conscience, 2021
Following a brief introduction, this article provides some definitions of euthanasia, while aiming to bring to the reader’s attention the way in which the concept has emerged and developed throughout history. Subsequently, we shall present some criteria for the classification of euthanasia, but some pros and cons also, which tension the ethical, medical, legal, and religious debates about the legalization of euthanasia. Towards the end, we shall visit a few dilemmas gravitating on the subject, and also present some biblical principles, which should be the perspective from which the issue of euthanasia is to be considered. The worst thing, when we talk about euthanasia, is that the whole system of values, which was seen as a good one from the very beginning, is now overthrown. The battle for life, the supreme value that gave birth to Hippocrates’ medicine, is substituted for the battle for death.
EUTHANASIA: Legal, Religious, and Medical Ethics Perspectives
Mohamed Khalifa, 2023
While technological and scientific advancement has led to rapid development in the medical sector and the pharmaceutical industry and thereby resulted in the treatment of major illnesses, some diseases still are untreatable and impinge on a good quality of life. This prejudice against pain and suffering has led some doctors and scientists to suggest euthanasia, also known as artificial death, to end the pain associated with some untreatable illnesses. It is a suggestion that is based on the ground that death is preferable to life. As more countries in the West have moved toward the discussion of implementing this recent practice, discussions regarding the ethics of the nature of the medical profession and its ethical and legal obligation towards treating patients and alleviating their pain and what that means came into question. Consequently, the law stepped in to intervene as the judge on whether to authorize or criminalize this emerging medical practice. This paper is set to: first, provide a brief historical overview of the context in which euthanasia as a medical practice came to emergence; second, clarify the meaning of the practice through an analysis of the medical perspective, with a particular focus on the ethical argument put forward by practitioners; third, engage in a discussion of religious views as well as legislative laws on euthanasia; fourth, analyze the contested claim that modernity gave birth to this phenomena. This paper encompasses two aspects: it engages legal texts concerning the development of the laws regarding euthanasia and then moves to a discussion of religious views and their influence on shaping the law of euthanasia, with a particular focus on Islamic sharia law and its objectives.
An Ethical Excursion of Euthanasia
isara solutions, 2020
Should an individual, in addition to the right to live, have a right to die? The debate of euthanasia has been a globally controversial and overheated issue for many decades. The word 'euthanasia' is derived from Greek 'euthanos' meaning 'a gentle and easy death'. However, it is now used to refer to the killing of patients who are incurably ill and in great pain and distress, in order to relieve them of their sufferings. Euthanasia can be of three types: voluntary euthanasia or assisted suicide or mercy killing (euthanasia performed with patient's consent), non-voluntary euthanasia (when the patient is unable to give consent) and involuntary euthanasia (which is performed on a patient against his will). Euthanasia can be carried out either by administering a lethal dose of a suitable drug (active euthanasia) or letting the patient die by withholding treatment (passive euthanasia). While passive euthanasia is considered legal in many countries (India, Australia, Germany, England, etc) active euthanasia is only legal in Netherlands and Belgium. The person seeking euthanasia often argues that in a civilized society giving everybody the right to a 'dignified death' without pain is ethically acceptable as a universal principle. However, there are many social, political and moral dilemmas legalizing euthanasia. In this dissertation few of them is highlighted.
Euthanasia: some aspects of bioethics
2019
Problem statement. For many years, the issue of euthanasia has got a mixed reaction in society. The term "euthanasia" was introduced in XVI century by an English philosopher F. Bacon who discussing the purpose and tasks of medicine in his paper "On the Dignity and Advancement of Learning" focused on the issue of incurable diseases 1. Furthermore, M.Koval, referring to H. Tereshkevych, marks that originally, in medicine, the term "euthanasia" meant loving help to a person who is dying, a desire to reduce his/her patience and fear. Subsequently, the term got a radically different meaning than F. Bacon's interpretation-the care of the terminally ill persons or people who are knocking on heaven's door 2. Nowadays, "euthanasia" means completely negative and opposite concept than F. Bacon proposed. For this very reason, one can observe numerous disputes between medical workers, lawyers, psychologists, as well as religious leaders. Thus, according to some modern scholars, an attitude to death serves as a standard, indicator and characteristic of civilization, but when one looks at modern society, one observes that it represses death from the collective consciousness; the society acts as if nobody dies, and the death of the individual leaves no marks in the social structure. Moreover, in the most developed and democratic countries of the world, the death of a person is perceived as a matter of doctors and business people who deal with funeral service 3. Euthanasia, as a medical procedure, is applied to patients whose biological death is inevitable and who feel severe physical sufferings while dying. There is another category of patients-persons who are in a persistent vegetative state. At the same time, the problem concerned has the other side. Many scholars are a bit apprehensive that a formal solution to this problem may become a kind of brake for the search for more effective means of diagnosis and treatment of acute patients. It is beyond the argument that a physician shouldn't bow to a patient wishing to use this procedure. It is permissible only in exceptional cases, that is, when there are no chances for a cure and protracting a person's life, one foredooms him/her to sufferings. In the context of the above, we fully share M. Koval's statement that "at the same time, there cannot be two true or objective laws in the world. The truth does not need confirmation of another truth as the truth is absolute. The voice of nature originating from the Law of the Lord says "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13). However, the scholar says that along with the law, there is anti-law which always seeks to falsify its truth and denies the truth of the law. There is the same situation with euthanasia. The modern stage of reforming healthcare in Ukraine involves extending the bioethical knowledge of a young physician or pharmacist to form his/her moral, ethical and deontological mentality to evaluate events and phenomena from the standpoint of absolute, eternal and unchanging universal humanistic values" 4. Presentation of the key information. A terminally ill patient should be treated differently than other patients. However, there are no any legal documents which regulate a physician's actions towards a dying patient, and they can't be. Most scholars tend to think that above all, one should follow the ethical principles enshrined 1
A matter of life or death: the euthanasia debate under a human rights perspective
2016
This contribution examines euthanasia from a human rights perspective. It focuses in particular on passive euthanasia and the right to refuse medical treatment, two aspects that remain undertheorised. Special attention is paid to the interplay of human dignity and human autonomy in the context of euthanasia. Zusammenfassung Dieser Beitrag untersucht menschenrechtliche Fragen im Zusammenhang mit der Debatte über Sterbehilfe. Im Vordergrund stehen passive Sterbehilfe sowie das Recht, medizinische Versorgung zu verweigern. Der Artikel analysiert ausserdem das Zusammenspiel von Autonomie und Menschenwürde im Kontext der Sterbehilfe. Résumé Cet article analyse plusieurs questions relatives à l'euthanasie sous l'angle des droits de l'homme. Une priorité est accordée à deux aspects moins souvent discutés, à savoir l'euthanasie passive et le droit de refuser un traitement médical. L'article examine par ailleurs la relation entre autonomie et dignité humaine dans le débat autour de l'euthanasie.
Foundations of Euthanasia: Some Moral Problems
2021
Death is the end of life. Human life may end in various ways, sometimes he dies in an accident, dies naturally in old age, dies<br> in disease etc., but in today's society some sort of deaths are most complicated issues in moral philosophy. Life is invaluable. Man<br> loves his life, he wants to protect and prolong his life. Everyone has the right to make their own decisions. But there is controversy<br> over the morality of his decision to end his life. In this paper I will discuss the relation between morality and euthanasia. In this way I<br> will mention the meaning of suicide, assisted suicide and euthanasia. I will analysis euthanasia and its moral foundations, what ethical<br> issues arise in the case of euthanasia and how ethical issues can be minimized, finally I will try to find out which situation is<br> reasonable for Euthanasia.
Revisiting Euthanasia: A Comparative Analysis of a Right to Die in Dignity
Euthanasia is a practice that has taken place since immemorial times. And since immemorial times it has been controversial and a source of harsh debates. Throughout the last decades, many changes have been introduced in this field and many practices, until then only taking place without public knowledge, were progressively revealed and regulated. This paper aims, firstly, at clarifying the terminology and concepts usually used in the euthanasia debate and presenting, in a lucid way, the arguments that civic movements and authors resort to when defending or criticising the liberalisation of euthanasia. Secondly, it describes the legal and social situation regarding euthanasia in several countries, where cases and legislation have demanded greater awareness from society. Thirdly, it attempts to compare the different national situations previously analysed. Finally, it discusses ways of improving the present situation and finding better solutions for the regulation of euthanasia.