Physician Assisted Suicide
Special Section: Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Murder or Mercy?
REN-ZONG QIU
Introduction Chinese medicine has a history of at least 2,000 years. The first explicit literature on medical ethics did not appear until the seventh century when a physician named Sun Simiao wrote a famous treatise titled "On the Absolute Sincerity of Great Gold.1 In this treatise, later called The Chinese Hippocratic Oath, Sun Simiao required the physician to develop first a sense of compassion and piety, and then to make a commitment to try to save every living creature, to treat every patient on equal grounds, and to avoid seeking wealth because of his expertise. Traditional Chinese medical ethics is the application of Confucianism in the field …show more content…
The problem in the case of euthanasia as characterized above is, What is the cause of death? Is it the action of withholding or withdrawing treatment, the action of ending life, or the disease process? Another problem is, How can the motive of this action be classified? Was it done from compassion or from some selfish intention? Is euthanasia ethically justifiable? Most Chinese ethicists argue that the principles of beneficence, autonomy, and justice can be applied to justify euthanasia in certain circumstances. But behind the agreement there is a discrepancy in the argument. The holistic argument emphasizes the benefit euthanasia may bring to the whole society. The individualist argument is that we should respect the rights of the terminally ill to choose a way of dying that Is in their best interests. If a terminally ill patient prefers to live as long as possible no matter how painful the life will be and there is no financial problem, to prevent access to the needed medical care, we should respect this choice. There have been, cases in which patients committed suicide by hanging themselves, or have cut an artery with a knife, or have jumped from a window after their request to withdraw treatment was refused. Physicians felt themselves to be In an embarrassing dilemma when faced with such cases. Euthanasia can help us to avoid …show more content…
The life of a person is the product of interaction between Yang (light Qi) and Yin (heavy Qi). Yang comes from. Heaven and father, and Yin from. Earth and mother. After the death of a person, Yang is returned to Heaven and Yin to Earth. So a person comes from, nature and returns to it. The least intelligent being, an amoeba, and the most intelligent being, a human being, each consists of Qi, and they are integral parts of a continuum, — a chain of beings that is never broken because nothing is outside of it. Birth and death are two of the greatest events in human life because each, person only has one chance to be born and one chance to die. So the Chinese have a grand ceremony to celebrate these occasions. Birth, and death are called "red and white happy events." Birth is nothing but a new form of Qi, and so is death. For Confucianism,, what is valued is not human life itself, but living in an ideal way. The great historian Sima Qian said that every person, must die, and that a person's death is as heavy as the Tai Mountains and as light as a feather of the wild goose. Confucius once said: A man of humanity will never seek to live at the expense of injuring humanity. He would rather sacrifice his life in order to realize humanity. 12 What is valued is a meaningful, not a meaningless life. The meaning of life for Confucianists is found, by following Confucian ethical, principles, which, teach people to be human—
REN-ZONG QIU
Introduction Chinese medicine has a history of at least 2,000 years. The first explicit literature on medical ethics did not appear until the seventh century when a physician named Sun Simiao wrote a famous treatise titled "On the Absolute Sincerity of Great Gold.1 In this treatise, later called The Chinese Hippocratic Oath, Sun Simiao required the physician to develop first a sense of compassion and piety, and then to make a commitment to try to save every living creature, to treat every patient on equal grounds, and to avoid seeking wealth because of his expertise. Traditional Chinese medical ethics is the application of Confucianism in the field …show more content…
The problem in the case of euthanasia as characterized above is, What is the cause of death? Is it the action of withholding or withdrawing treatment, the action of ending life, or the disease process? Another problem is, How can the motive of this action be classified? Was it done from compassion or from some selfish intention? Is euthanasia ethically justifiable? Most Chinese ethicists argue that the principles of beneficence, autonomy, and justice can be applied to justify euthanasia in certain circumstances. But behind the agreement there is a discrepancy in the argument. The holistic argument emphasizes the benefit euthanasia may bring to the whole society. The individualist argument is that we should respect the rights of the terminally ill to choose a way of dying that Is in their best interests. If a terminally ill patient prefers to live as long as possible no matter how painful the life will be and there is no financial problem, to prevent access to the needed medical care, we should respect this choice. There have been, cases in which patients committed suicide by hanging themselves, or have cut an artery with a knife, or have jumped from a window after their request to withdraw treatment was refused. Physicians felt themselves to be In an embarrassing dilemma when faced with such cases. Euthanasia can help us to avoid …show more content…
The life of a person is the product of interaction between Yang (light Qi) and Yin (heavy Qi). Yang comes from. Heaven and father, and Yin from. Earth and mother. After the death of a person, Yang is returned to Heaven and Yin to Earth. So a person comes from, nature and returns to it. The least intelligent being, an amoeba, and the most intelligent being, a human being, each consists of Qi, and they are integral parts of a continuum, — a chain of beings that is never broken because nothing is outside of it. Birth and death are two of the greatest events in human life because each, person only has one chance to be born and one chance to die. So the Chinese have a grand ceremony to celebrate these occasions. Birth, and death are called "red and white happy events." Birth is nothing but a new form of Qi, and so is death. For Confucianism,, what is valued is not human life itself, but living in an ideal way. The great historian Sima Qian said that every person, must die, and that a person's death is as heavy as the Tai Mountains and as light as a feather of the wild goose. Confucius once said: A man of humanity will never seek to live at the expense of injuring humanity. He would rather sacrifice his life in order to realize humanity. 12 What is valued is a meaningful, not a meaningless life. The meaning of life for Confucianists is found, by following Confucian ethical, principles, which, teach people to be human—