Euthanasia = Murder??
The debate of the sanctity of and right to life no longer simply deals with the unborn, but increasingly the elderly as well. The very laws once designed to protect human beings' inalienable right to life now increasingly allow the elimination of those considered unworthy to live. Doctors trained to heal and prolong life are now shortening and even destroying life altogether. Physician-assisted suicide is becoming the cure and an acceptable medical procedure. But this is murder because it's an act that intentionally ends the life of a human being that is not motivated by self-defense. Webster's dictionary defines murder as putting an end to a human life. Murder in the criminal sense is ending a human life without the motivation of self-defense. Self-defense is when you feel a threat to your own self or your country. For example, killing an enemy soldier on a battlefield isn't murder because the conflict is such that one of the two soldiers will have to die. The same is true when someone breaks into your house with a gun you wouldn't be blamed for murder because you are protecting yourself and your family. Therefore, murder can be most closely defined as intentionally ending a human life when it pos
Death is inevitable for each of us, it is not to be hurried, and it should not be feared. Death is a very natural process and mankind should not take death into its own hands. If life does not occur naturally, but is taken by man, then it must be considered murder. The Hippocratic Oath, the oath in which all medical professionals must swear to, states that doctors "will give no deadly medicine, even if asked" (The Oath of Hippocrates, 1). This proves that the ethical code of physicians is to serve life. They are never to use their knowledge and experience to kill, either the born or unborn. Physicians are supposed to prolong life and provide care to the terminally ill. In order to disguise the doctor's deliberate killing of patients, euthanasia advocates are using phrases such as: "pain relief", "preserving quality of life", "death with dignity", "voluntary euthanasia" and "the right to die". But no matter what they want to call it, ending a human life is still murder. Supporters of active euthanasia claim that physician-assisted suicide isn't murder because it's ending the suffering of patients. One option against this idea is that instead of killing the patient, we kill the pain. There's no reason why we have to kill a person in order to stop pain. There are many treatments available today that can do this effectively (Gunning, 1). Kill the pain, not the person! Physician assisted suicide is closely related to the term euthanasia. Euthanasia is a Greek word meaning "good de
Some common words found in the essay are:
Definitional Paper, Oath Hippocrates, Edward Shils, Euthanasia Greek, Merrill Waisel, Creator Sustainer, Hippocratic Oath, human life, consent patient, active euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, human life murder, life human, prolong life, kill pain, murder it's, life murder, passive euthanasia,
Approximate Word count = 1015
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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