Euthansia

A detailed Summary of Euthansia

"Euthanasia" or commonly known as assisted suicide has become one of the most talked about social issues in the World. Euthanasia, or mercy killing, presents some very difficult and painful dilemmas for doctors, patients, family members, and moral philosophers. (426) Even with these difficult and painful dilemmas the patient or person has the right to live or the right to die. This is what we believe and understand freedom to be, by having the right to privacy, liberty, and the control over his or her body. This dilemma of assisted suicide has brought quite a dilemma to our physicians and court systems. The reason for this is because euthanasia becomes a serious issue with families when a serious accident puts a patient in a comatose state and or otherwise incapable of making a competent decision. James Rachel believes there are two forms of euthanasia. First, he states that mercy sometimes requires mercy killing because the pain involved in a terminal illness may be greater than the life itself. Secondly, he states that the Golden rule would be adequate enough to escape the extreme pain. The morals of this Golden rule are as follows, if it is ok for me then it must be ok for another individual.

3. Therefore, such an action would be morally right." (458)

Unfortunately, their may be some cases were doctors may not diagnose you in the correct way, and the person may recover to a full recovery. By this I mean a person will lose many years of life based on a doctors prognosis of a patient. Even though there are cases of this out there it still is the right of the person suffering. As we learned before in class the classic utilitarian version of this argument may be stated as:

Another dilemma in Euthanasia is doctor-assisted suicide. In 1997 Chief Justice William Rehnquist gave his majority opinion on the case of Washington v. Glucksberg stating to uphold state laws in Washington and New York, banning doctor-assisted suicide. He states, " Throughout the Nation, Americans are engaged in an earnest and profound debate about the morality, legality, and practically of physician- assisted suicide. Our holding permits this debate to continue, as it should in a democratic society." (477) This verdict made doctor- assisted suicide illegal by having the doctor due the assisting. The court did allow the possibility for some cases to be legal when someone is suffering great pain from a terminal illness. On doctor that as made many headlines throughout the United States is Dr. Jack Kevorkian. He has traveled the country assisting suicides of desperate patients. Dr. Kevorkian would set up everything for the patient and then the patient would administer the suicide.

unately, there are many cases in the World were the terminally ill person can't or is physically unable to make a decision on their life. One such case has set a pace for the future of Euthanasia. " The Supreme Court of New Jersey, in a much published case, decided in 1976 to allow the parents of Karen Ann Quinlan to remove her respirator. She was comatose and diagnosed as having no chance of regaining consciousness. The court decided the Quinlan's right to privacy gave her and her guardian the right to decide the course of her treatment, since a respirator, which might be deemed ordinary for a curable patient, should count as extraordinary for someone with poor prognosis." (426) This historical rulin

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Approximate Word count = 1476
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science