Meaning Of Euthanasia example essay topic

The term euthanasia is not new to the twentieth century. Even in ancient societies, terminally ill people requested to have their lives ended; though the meaning of euthanasia for them differed from its meaning today. The English word euthanasia is taken from the Greek eu thanatos "good or easy death". However today it is given a different meaning, because of the social and moral issues it touches.

In the present day the term euthanasia is associated with the act of mercifully (although some might argue this point) ending the life of a hopelessly suffering patient with his or her consent. If the patient is incompetent, then the closest living relatives have the power to make "substitute judgment" - the guardian or surrogate "attempts to reach the decision that the incapacitated person would make if he or she were able to choose" (Quinn 289-290). The term "incompetent patient" refers to a condition in which a patient lacks the capacity to make substantially autonomous decisions about his or her own care (Hoefler 36). The movement to legalize euthanasia began in 1906 when the Ohio legislature referred a bill to its Committee on Medical Jurisprudence, which proposed the legislation of active voluntary euthanasia. The bill was rejected by a vote of 78 to 22. Similar attempts to legalize the practice occurred in Nebraska, New York and recently in the state of Washington.

Today most states prohibit assisted suicide; Illinois, Ohio and Michigan call it murder. However the prosecution of those who assisted the suicide is unusual. It is not surprising that there is so much variation from state to state, because doctors themselves do not agree on the morality of active euthanasia. The debate, revolving around euthanasia, is based on several questions: Is euthanasia ethical? Is suffering a preparation for death, and if it is, should people be spared it?

Do people have a right to die? Does euthanasia go against the Judeo-Christian beliefs? And the final and most topical question is should euthanasia be legalized? One of the issues that should be given special attention, when discussing euthanasia is the ethical question. Is euthanasia ethical?

Even though it is very disputable issue one thing is clear - euthanasia can be ethical only under very specific circumstances. Derek Humphry, the founder of the Hemlock Society and the author of several books on euthanasia, including Jean's Way, Final Exit, and Dying with Dignity, thinks that suicide and therefore certain form of euthanasia can be justified. Humphry describes two forms of suicide: suicide for mental health reasons, which both he and the Hemlock Society oppose; and justifiable suicide, or "auto euthanasia". He argues that "auto euthanasia" is an acceptable choice for those suffering from terminal illness or severe physical handicap, and he outlines the conditions under which it can be considered an ethical act: "Being a mature adult (age depending on the individual).

That it is clearly a considered decision. That the self-deliverance is not made at the first knowledge of the life threatening illness and that reasonable medical help is sought. That the treating physician has been informed and his response taken into account. Have made a will disposing of your worldly effects. Make plans to exit this life, which do not involve others in criminal liability. Leave a note saying exactly why you are self-destructing" (80-81).

In those parameters Humphry describes euthanasia as a clear and simple procedure, which in actuality is just the opposite. His point of view applies only to an emotionally healthy person. If an individual is terminally ill, his emotional health and rationality are questionable. Since those parameters cannot apply to the bigger percentage of cases, they cannot judge auto euthanasia. When patients remain conscious, their sense of integrity and of coherence of their lives crucially affects their judgment about whether it is in their best interests to continue to live. Athletes, for example, or others, whose physical activity was at the center of their self-conception, are more likely to find handicap's life intolerable.

Other type of people to find handicap's life intolerable is the dominant type. If throughout their entire lives people lived independently, by their own ideas and beliefs, once put in the situation, where they are no longer dominant, they loose their passion for living. For such people, a life without the power of motion and self-control is unacceptable; it is not worth living. A good example is Friedrich Nietzsche, a great German philosopher of 19th century, who said, "In a certain state it is indecent to live longer. To go on vegetating in cowardly dependence on physicians and machinations, after the meaning of life, the right to life, has been lost, that ought to prompt a profound contempt in society" (421). To him the meaning of life was lost, if he could not live independently, physical dependency would sicken his spirit.

He wanted "to die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly" (422).