Euthanasia
Euthanasia
William Edwards
December 3, 2012
HCA 322
Linda Hoppe
Euthanasia is a very controversial topic with people not just in America, but around the world. Let’s start with defining euthanasia and the two different type of euthanasia. Euthanasia is, “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy” (Merriam-Webster, 2012). There are two different types of euthanasia. Type one is active euthanasia; active euthanasia is, “the practice of injecting a patient with a lethal dose of medication with the primary intention of ending a patient’s life, at the patient’s request” (Medical-Dictionary.com, 2012). The second type of euthanasia is passive euthanasia. Passive euthanasia is, “the ending of life by the deliberate withholding of drugs or other life-sustaining treatment” (Medical-Dictionary.com, 2012) Active euthanasia would be closer to the actual act of assisted suicide, because it requires the help of others to inject something lethal into another’s system. Passive euthanasia would be a doctor following a person’s request for example if they had a living will or a do not resuscitate order (DNR). People have many varying opinions on euthanasia; some opinions go back and forth depending on the situation, but in my case I have one opinion and that is that euthanasia should be legalized and used if a person requests it when they are in a situation where their life will end due to a terminal illness. My father had never really taken care of himself and he had been diabetic since the age of 10. Knowing that his health wasn’t what it should be he had a living will and a DNR done and went over everything with my mother and my two brothers. On New Year’s Eve 3 years ago my mother and father were in Las Vegas when my father started feeling sick and decided he needed to go to the hospital to get checked out. The doctors thought that
William Edwards
December 3, 2012
HCA 322
Linda Hoppe
Euthanasia is a very controversial topic with people not just in America, but around the world. Let’s start with defining euthanasia and the two different type of euthanasia. Euthanasia is, “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy” (Merriam-Webster, 2012). There are two different types of euthanasia. Type one is active euthanasia; active euthanasia is, “the practice of injecting a patient with a lethal dose of medication with the primary intention of ending a patient’s life, at the patient’s request” (Medical-Dictionary.com, 2012). The second type of euthanasia is passive euthanasia. Passive euthanasia is, “the ending of life by the deliberate withholding of drugs or other life-sustaining treatment” (Medical-Dictionary.com, 2012) Active euthanasia would be closer to the actual act of assisted suicide, because it requires the help of others to inject something lethal into another’s system. Passive euthanasia would be a doctor following a person’s request for example if they had a living will or a do not resuscitate order (DNR). People have many varying opinions on euthanasia; some opinions go back and forth depending on the situation, but in my case I have one opinion and that is that euthanasia should be legalized and used if a person requests it when they are in a situation where their life will end due to a terminal illness. My father had never really taken care of himself and he had been diabetic since the age of 10. Knowing that his health wasn’t what it should be he had a living will and a DNR done and went over everything with my mother and my two brothers. On New Year’s Eve 3 years ago my mother and father were in Las Vegas when my father started feeling sick and decided he needed to go to the hospital to get checked out. The doctors thought that