Human Euthanasia

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It is not uncommon for medical personnel to treat someone as legally incompetent without any official court decision. For example, if someone is in the operating room under anesthesia, and there is a sudden crisis and a life-altering decision must be made now, it is often not possible to sow the person back up, wait for them to wake up, and then discuss the matter. A spouse or other close relative will be asked to make a decision on this person's behalf. Clearly under such circumstances it would be impractical to take this to court and hold hearings on the patient's competence and the suitability of the spouse as a guardian. But in euthanasia cases, the problem is often not that the patient is incapable of making and communicating a decision, but rather that those around her do not approve of her decision. Even when the legality of such actions is questionable, in real life the authorities are not going to intervene unless someone challenges it. And if the patient is weak, sick, and bed-ridden, she may not be capable of getting to court to protest. Unless there is another relative who disagrees with the decision to euthanize, the patient's wishes can simply be ignored.

In "assisted suicide", a doctor provides a patient with the means to end his own life. Helping people who desire a hastened death so as to avoid further suffering has a long fight ahead of it. For example, if a doctor gives a patient an injection of morphine sufficient to cause the patient death, this is euthanasia. But if the doctor puts the hypodermic needle beside the patient bed, explains to the patient what it is, and leaves, and the patient later injected it himself, this is considered assisted suicide. We have to change the climate of thinking in respect of individual choices in dying. We have to modify social changes ourselves. Others have done it with universal suffrage, birth control, marriage and divorce, abortion rights, and so on. Here is what we can do: First, be right there on the front line, at the bedside, for dying person who seeks our help. Help comes in many different forms, we can provide advice, refer the patient to a skilled professional counselor who will consult with the patient about their point of view. We can also provide supervision of a justifiable suicide for a person who is dying, if the patient feels there are no other alternatives available for them.

Clearly there is a big difference between "voluntary passive euthanasia" and "involuntary active euthanasia". In voluntary passive euthanasia, a person decides for himself that medical treatment that he is receiving is making his life more unpleasant than the disease, and that he would rather end the treatment and go home. Presumably he concludes that a shorter but more comfortable life is preferable. Or perhaps he is simply tired of fighting, and wants to just give up and die. With involuntary active euthanasia, one person decides that another person's life is no longer worth living or no longer of value, and has them “put down” or killed so to speak. While both of these things result in the person's death, they are so dramatically different that it strains the language to lump them both under the single term "euthanasia". The main concern of our discussion, as a whole, in regards to the act of euthanasia itself is that we strongly disagree in the legalization because of how broad of a term and action it truly is. It is an event that can be abused if fallen to the wrong hands and we should not make attempts to play the role of a higher being because if we did not create life and everything that encompasses it, then we have no right to take that life, legally or illegally.

Works Cited

Nursing: A Concept-Based Approach to Learning. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2015

Berger, Jeffrey T. "Pandemic Preparedness Planning: Will Provisions For Involuntary Termination Of Life Support Invite Active Euthanasia?." The Journal Of Clinical Ethics 21.4 (2010): 308-311. MEDLINE. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.

de Vocht, H, and B Nyatanga. "Health Professionals' Opposition To Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide: A Personal View." International Journal Of Palliative Nursing 13.7 (2007): 351-355. CINAHL with Full Text. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.

Humphry, Derek. “The Future of the Right-To-Die Movement.” Assisted Suicide. ERGO: Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization. 22 September 2004. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.

Julesz, Máté. "[Passive Euthanasia And Living Will]." Orvosi Hetilap 155.27 (2014): 1057-1062. MEDLINE. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.

“Types of Euthanasia.” Types of Euthanasia. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.

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