Euthanesia

Outline

The argument comes down to whether a patient has the legal right to ask their doctor to help them die when the end of life is near and the suffering is severe. I believe that if a person is terminally ill, and is in immense amounts of pain, that it is their legal right, to end their life prematurely, with their doctor's assistance.

I. The different types of euthanasia

A. Passive euthanasia: acceleration of death by the removal of life support

B. Active euthanasia: a doctor directly assists in the death of a person

C. Physician Assisted Suicide: physician supplies the resources for committing suicide

II. An example of euthanasia

A. Article, "It's Over Debbie"

III. Legalization of euthanasia

A. Euthanasia is legal in Japan, the Netherlands, and Oregon

B. Bills to make euthanasia have been denied in the United States

IV. Netherlands guidelines for euthanasia

A. It must be voluntary

B. Requests must not be made on impulse or based on depression

C. The pain must be considered unacceptable suffering

D. A second opinion must be had

E. A well documented report must be written by the doctor

V. Religious aspects of euthanasia

A. Conservative group beliefs vs. liberal group beliefs

B. What God says about euthanasia

VI. Survey of terminally ill cancer patients

A. Cancer patients are the largest group to accept euthanasia

VII. When euthanasia is used

A. Only with people who are terminally ill and who are suffering

VIII. My opinion on euthanasia

A. A person has the freedom to choose what they do with their life

B. Euthanasia is not suicide

C. It is the patients free will to decide how their life is ended

Whether to permit euthanasia is among the most argumentative legal and public policy questions in America today. The argument comes down to whether a patient has the legal right to ask their doctor to help them die when the end of life is near and the suffering is severe. I believe that if a person is terminally ill, and is in immense amounts of pain, that it is their legal right, to end their life prematurely, with their doctor's assistance.

The word euthanasia originated from the Greek language: "eu means Ð''good' and thanatos means Ð''death'" (Article, "Euthanasia"). The meaning of the word is "the intentional termination of life by another at the explicit request of the person who dies." (Article, "Euthanasia"). When people hear the word euthanasia they usually think its meaning is either the termination of life at the patient's request, or as the Nazi extermination program of murder.

Passive euthanasia is the acceleration of death for a person by removing some form of support and letting nature take its course. An example of passive euthanasia is the removal of life support, (a respirator) and therefore allowing a person to die. This procedure is performed on people with massive brain damage who are in a coma and cannot possibly regain consciousness.

Active Euthanasia is where a person asks a doctor to directly assist them in dying. These patients are usually terminally ill, and suffering tremendously, and they want a quick, painless exit from life. A famous promoter of this is Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a Michigan physician. He claims to have assisted in more than 130 suicides. His method is to inject a controlled substance into a patient, therefore causing death.

Physician Assisted Suicide, or voluntary passive euthanasia, is where a physician supplies the resources for committing suicide to a person, so that they can terminate their own life. The physician will usually give a prescription for a lethal dose of sleeping pills, or a supply of carbon monoxide gas. Dr. Kevorkian has also used this method, he provides a f

In 1992, the Journal of the American Medical Association printed an anonymous article entitled "It's Over Debbie." The article describes how the author administered a lethal injection to a terminally ill cancer patient, whom he had never met. Since it was anonymous, we don't know if it was a true story, or if it was fabricated to open the