The word “euthanasia” in Greek means “good death”. Many people believe that a better representation of the definition is ‘the ending of a patient’s life according to certain principles and under certain circumstances, where medicine cannot cure or provide a life of acceptable quality’. According to one article, “The goal of euthanasia is to bring death to patients who are no longer able to withstand the physical suffering caused by the disease”.
As of 2017, euthanasia, also known as physician assisted suicide (PAS), is legal in 7 states in the United States, as well as in other European countries. Similar to the definitions in the United States, the Belgian Act on euthanasia defines it as ‘intentionally terminating life by someone other than the person concerned, as the latter’s request’.
It is important to note that euthanasia is voluntary, non-voluntary, and involuntary. Involuntary euthanasia pertains to ‘extreme measures’ when a patient is in critical condition as to where voluntary euthanasia is requesting to a physician to terminate one’s life. Non-voluntary euthanasia is not in the hands of the patient, but in that of a family member or spouse as to where the patient is unable to think/speak for oneself. As opposed to suffering, people would rather choose to die at their choice, than to risk a prolonged treatment that is not guaranteed to work. Patients who suffer from cancer are of the most abundant requesting physician assisted suicide. An astounding two-thirds of all patients with cancer deem euthanasia as an acceptable means to the treatment of unrelenting pain. This does not limit euthanasia to being solely used for oncology patients, patients with any form of a chronic disease consider euthanasia because death is inevitable for them. However, the majority of patients that have requested to end their suffering have been patients with at least some form of cancer. Most patients even considering physician assisted suicide are reported be enrolled in some type of hospice or palliative care.
Euthanasia has been the topic of debate for decades. Most of this debate arises from the concern for patients with mental health problems and diseases. However, most patients requesting euthanasia tend to be elder, white, and well-educated people. Physicians, as well as public opinion believe that people suffering from depression or anxiety would turn to euthanasia as an easy way out. This is not likely. In the states where euthanasia is legal, requirements must be followed before a prescription is written or an injection is administered. These requirements are, but not limited to: the patient must be 18 years or older, the patient must have less than 6 months to live, the patient must have consent from 2 or more physicians for a request to die, and the patient must be a resident of the state they are requesting to die in for at least 6 months prior. A whopping 98% of the people requesting euthanasia were confirmed to have less than 6 months to live. Even then, doctors have a difficult time agreeing to euthanize a patient because of personal moral, ethical and religious beliefs.
Three hundred and twenty physicians were surveyed, and only 16% of them reported back that they have written a prescription for a lethal dose of medication. In the 1900s, the public as well as physicians opposed euthanasia as a whole. Recently, the public favors euthanasia more while doctors are still having a difficult time trying to accept it due to the Hippocratic Oath which states that a doctor must do no harm. This places doctors in a difficult situation because ‘do no harm’ can be interpreted in a vast number of ways. Prescribing a patient a lethal dose of medication is harmful, but the majority of the public feels it is more harmful to let a patient suffer from a terminal disease. Interestingly, public opinion favors that instead of a terminally ill patient taking a lethal dose of medicine, ultimately committing suicide, it would be preferable if a physician were to administer the lethal medicine. In a different survey, 705 deaths were directly linked to euthanasia which only accounts for less than 1.5% of total deaths in the study. The main issue surrounding euthanasia is the ‘right to die’ and whether or not a human has a right to die as much as they have a right to live. People who seek out to euthanasia often feel burdened, fear a loss of control and quality of life, as well as fear having to be dependent on someone else. Many euthanasia acts are passed under titles such as ‘Death with Dignity’ acts because to the patients, that is essentially all euthanasia is: to die with dignity. To some it is a haven and to others it is simply wrong: euthanasia remains a difficult topic.
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