What is Meant By The Term Euthanasia?
To many people the term ‘Euthanasia’ is a technical name for mercy killing or assisted suicide. In other words it is see as a way of putting people out of their misery that is a far more serious issue than putting your pet to sleep but holds the same principle. In fact the term ‘Euthanasia’ comes from the Greek words eu which means well and thantos which means death. When the two words are combined Euthanasia can be defined as a ‘good death’. The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘Euthanasia’ as “The bringing about of a gentle and easy death in the case of incurable and painful disease.” Euthanasia is, therefore, when death is purposely chosen and not when a person is killed in, for example, a car accident or has died due to medical treatment failing to work.
Euthanasia can either be voluntary, involuntary or non-voluntary. Voluntary Euthanasia is when a dying person (or their legal representative) makes a request for them to die. For example, a person may have lung cancer and have been placed on a respirator and then he or she may request their breathing tube to be removed. Members of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, which was founded to campaign for people to have the right to have an ‘easy death’, carry with them cards that say that “they do not wish to be resuscitated or have their lives artificially prolonged if this would lead to their lingering for days or even months in pain or mental anguish”. Involuntary Euthanasia is when Euthanasia is when it is presumed that if the person was able to say what they wanted, he or she would have chosen to die. The doctor makes the decision and often the patient’s relatives or friends may be consulted. For example, an old man may have lung cancer and then have pneumonia. The doctor has the decision to decide whether he prescribes the man with an antibiotic or not. Sometimes the patient has previously made it clear what he should wish by a written state, which was made before the patient was unable to make a decision. The statement says what health care treatment he should receive if when he is physically unable to make a decision. Non-voluntary Euthanasia is when the decision to end a person’s life is made for them as they can not say what they want. One example is when Tony Bland was on a life-support machine and was in a deep coma even though he could be fed and could breathe after the Hillsborough football disaster in April 1989. His life support machine was turn off after a long legal debate. Another example would be if a baby had been born with acute spina bifida and the paediatric unit has to decide whether they should operate because if a child has spina bifida they are either partially or totally paralysed and mentally handicapped.