Euthanasia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

mercy killing - Research Paper ExampleIn addition, the practice would lessen the urgency to develop new medicines designed to lead life. Those who oppose the practice on religious grounds argue that it is playing God therefore sinful. Health cargon professionals cite the Hippocratic Oath which forbids them from carrying come out this procedure. This paper will examine the moral and ethical concerns surrounding euthanasia, clarify the meaning of the term, present arguments for the practice and conclude with a recommendation to resolve the issue. Euthanasia describes a situation in which a termly ill patient is administered a lethal dose of medication, is removed from a life-support system or is simply all in allowed to die without active participation such as by resuscitation. A doctors involvement in the procedure could be to every prescribe a lethal dose of drugs with the express intent of ending a life or by intravenously inserting a needle into the terminal patient who then a ctivates a switch that administers the fatal dose (Naji et al, 2005). Assisted suicide by physicians and non-physicians has been legal in Switzerland since WWII. In addition, three organizations within the area have been established to aid terminally ill patients. They provide patient counseling as well as the drugs for use in the procedure. Lethal injections, however, are not allowed. The unusual situation in Switzerland holds that assisted suicide is allowed as long as a physician is not a part of the unconscious process (Hurst & Mauron, 2003). Euthanasia has been legal in Belgium since 2002. Each case must be reviewed by two physicians before the procedure is carried out by either consumption or injection. In The Netherlands, euthanasia has been legal for four years but has been tolerated for two decades. The guidelines for physicians handed down from the government include the patient must be suffering unbearably and have no hope of improvement, must ask to die and the patien t must clearly understand the condition and prognosis (and) a second doctor must agree with the decision to help the patient die (The Fight, 2004). Proponents of euthanasia are concerned with human suffering. Many maladys such as cancer cause a lingering and excruciatingly painful death. Watching a loved one as they wither away from the disease eating away at their organs is tough enough on family members, but to see them suffer even when drugs are administered is unbearable not to find what the patient must endure. This emotionally and physically torturous situation is played out in every hospital, every day of the year but serves no purpose. To many, it is unimaginable to allow anyone, for example, a sweet old grandmother who has spent her life caring for others, to spend the last six months of their life enduring unvaried pain, unable to control bodily functions, convulsing, coughing, vomiting, etc. The psychological pain for both the family and patient is unimaginably horrifi c as well. If grandma were a dog, most all would agree that the only humane option would be to put her to sleep. U.S. citizens are guaranteed certain rights but not the right to die with dignity. This right is not prohibit by the Constitution but by religious zealots who evidently put the quality of life of a dog above grandmas. Patients suffering from Alzheimers may not suffer physical pain but endure a different type of pain