Assignment on EUTHANASIA

TEACHER: SIR ASMAT ULLAH

IHSAN ULLAH Roll No. 11 Date: 5/5/16

Department of Jurisprudence

LLB FIRST YEAR FIRST SEMISTER SECTION A

UNIVERSITY LAW COLLEGE QUETTA.

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Table of ContentsEuthanasia........................................................................2A Brief History of Euthanasia..................................3Reason for euthanasia...............................................4TYPES OF EUTHANASIA..............................................4a. Voluntary euthanasia...........................................4B. involuntary euthanasia.....................................5C.Non voluntary euthanasia....................................6What is difference between voluntary, involuntary and non-voluntary euthanasia......6Euthanasia Can Be Active and Passive...............7What is the difference between passive and active euthanasia?.......................................................8LEGAL..................................................................................8The legal status of euthanasia.............................10Ethical issues................................................................11Morality............................................................................11CONCLUSION.................................................................12

Euthanasia(Mercy Killing, Assisted Suicide)

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The painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable,

And painful disease or in an irreversible coma.Euthanasia is the painless ending of a person’s life for reason of mercy,

Physician assisted suicide is the act in which a physician provides the mean for suicide of the incurably ill, the patient must take the final action that causes his/her death such as swallowing lethal drugs.The word Euthanasia Originate from the “Greek” Word,(Eu- means good and Thanatos means death)

According to world medical association the euthanasia means “Deliberate and intentional action with a clear intention to end another person life under the following condition,

The subject is a competent informed person with incurable illness who voluntary asked for ending his life; the person who is acting known about the state of this person and about his wish to die and his doing this action with an intention to end life of this person; the action is done with compassion and

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without any personal profit."The intentional putting to death of a person with an

incurable or painful disease intended as an act of mercy." Active euthanasia is: A mode of ending life in which the intent is to cause the patient's death in a single act (also called mercy killing)."

A Brief History of EuthanasiaI’ll Give No deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel (Hippocrates Father of Modern medicine “400 B.C”)

I’ll not give a lethal drugs to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plane. (Hippocratic Oath)

In the 1300s, suicide as well as helping people to kill themselves were considered as a criminal act.

In the 1930s euthanasia was practiced for the first time by German physicians.In the 20th century, lot of organizations were formed to address the concerns regarding euthanasia. (Voluntary euthanasia society)

Reason for euthanasiaAdvanced terminal illness that is causing unbearable suffering to the individual. This is the most common reason to seek an early end.

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Grave physical handicap which is so restricting that the individual cannot, even after due consideration, counseling and re-training, tolerate such a limited existence. This is a fairly rare reason for suicide --

Most impaired people cope remarkably well with their affliction -- but there are some who would, at a certain point, rather die.

TYPES OF EUTHANASIAThere are three (3) Types of euthanasia

A. Voluntary euthanasiaB. In voluntary euthanasiaC. Non voluntary euthanasia

a. Voluntary euthanasiai. Euthanasia performed with the patient's

consent is called voluntary euthanasia.ii. Voluntary euthanasia is the practice of

ending a life in a painless manner. Voluntary euthanasia (VE) and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have been the focus of great controversy in recent years.

iii. Voluntary euthanasia is at the request of a fully competent person who wishes to

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die.

B. involuntary euthanasia i. Which performed on a patient against their

will.ii. Involuntary euthanasia occurs when

euthanasia is performed on a person who would be able to provide informed consent, but does not, either because they do not want to die, or because they were not asked.

iii. Involuntary euthanasia occurs when a dying person could have been but was not asked for their consent, or when a request for continued treatment is refused. Attaching DNR notices to the medical notes of Elderly or disabled patients without their knowledge can be considered a form of involuntary euthanasia.

C. Non voluntary euthanasiai. Where the patient is unable to give their

informed consent, for example child euthanasia)

ii. Non-voluntary euthanasia (sometimes known as mercy killing) is euthanasia

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conducted when the explicit consent of the individual concerned is unavailable, such as when the person is in a persistent Vegetative state, or in the case of young children.

iii. Non-Voluntary euthanasia takes place when a person is unable to consent due to age, physical and/or mental incapacity. An example of this would be the decision to stop artificial feeding and hydration for someone in a Persistent Vegetative State.

What is difference between voluntary, involuntary and non-voluntary euthanasia

i. Voluntary euthanasia: When the person who is killed has requested to be killed.

ii. Non-voluntary: When the person who is killed made no request and gave no consent.

iii. Involuntary euthanasia: When the person who is killed made an expressed wish to contrary.

Euthanasia Can Be Active and Passive

i. Active Euthanasia: Active euthanasia describes cases where an action is performed with The intention of causing death. An

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example of this would be giving a lethal injection. This is currently illegal in the U.K.Active euthanasia, which is defined as the intentional act of causing the death of a patient experiencing great suffering, is illegal in France, whereas allowing patients to die is authorized by law under certain conditions.

ii. Passive Euthanasia:: Passive euthanasia describes cases where death is intentionally caused By inaction. An example of this would be withdrawing or withholding artificial nutrition or hydration or the use of a ventilator. "Passive euthanasia" is usually defined as withdrawing medical treatment with the deliberate intention of causing the patient's death. For example, if a patient requires kidney dialysis to survive, and the doctors disconnect the dialysis machine, the patient will presumably die fairly soon.

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What is the difference between passive and active euthanasia?

Active euthanasia is when death is brought about by an act - for example when a person is killed by being given an overdose of pain-killers.Passive euthanasia is when death is brought about by an omission - i.e. when someone lets the person die. This can be by withdrawing or withholding treatment.The moral difference between killing and letting die. Many people make a moral distinction between active and passive euthanasia. They think that it is acceptable to withhold treatment and allow a patient to die, but that it is never acceptable to kill a patient by a deliberate act.

LEGALLet me point out here for those who might not know

it that suicide is no longer a crime anywhere in the English-speaking world. (It used to be, and was punishable by giving all the dead person's money and goods to the government.) Attempted suicide is no longer a crime, although under health laws a

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person can in most states be forcibly placed in a psychiatricHospital for three days for evaluation.But giving assistance in suicide remains a crime, except in the Netherlands in recent times under certain conditions, and it has never been a crime in Switzerland, Germany, Norway and Uruguay. The rest of the world punishes assistance in suicide for both the mentally ill and the terminally ill, although the state of Oregon recently (Nov. l994) passed by ballot Measure 16 a limited physician-assisted suicide law. In (Feb. l995) this is held up in the law courts.

Even if a hopelessly ill person is requesting assistance in dying for the most compassionate reasons, and the helper is acting from the most noble of motives, it remains a crime in the Anglo-American world. Punishments range from fines to fourteen years in prison. It is this catch- all prohibition which I and others wish to change. In a caring society, under the rule of law, we claim that there must be exceptions.

The legal status of euthanasia In the U.S., individual states enact their own laws regarding murder and homicide, and, accordingly, it is for each state to decide for itself how to handle

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end-of-life situations. Passive euthanasia is legal in all states, where the medical profession itself establishes guidelines for what types of treatment can be withheld from dying patients. As of now, though, no state permits active euthanasia, and only three state permits assisted suicide, namely, Oregon, Montana and Washington. Oregon was the first, and because of its uniqueness, other states look to it as a test case for what the effects of such a policy might be elsewhere. Enacted in 1994, the specific guidelines of Oregon’s“Death With Dignity Act” are rather strict, and include the following conditions: (1) the person must be suffering from a terminal disease (with less than six months to live) and voluntarily express orally in writing his or her wish to die; (2) the person’s decision must be an informed one regarding his or her prognosis and the alternatives to assisted death; (3) after the patient’s initial request he or she must wait 15 days before receiving a prescription for the death-causing medication, and at that time the physician will offer the patient an opportunity to rescind the request. Oregon keeps detailed records of the patients who avail themselves of the “Death with Dignity Act”

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Ethical issuesWhether the issue is euthanasia or physician’s assisted death, the heart of the controversy is whether there are any morally justifiable reasons to kill oneself, and since ancient time’s philosophers have weighed in on this issue. We will look at the views of three classic philosophers on the subject. Next, when we turn to the contemporary moral debate regarding end-of-life situations, we find a special challenge. On the one hand, virtually all parties agree that certain types of death-assistance measures are justified—such as passive euthanasia. On the other hand, virtually all parties also agree that there are limits to exactly what can be done to end someone’s life—for example, you cannot euthanize someone who doesn’t want to die. Thus, the challenge is to find some criteria by which to distinguish acceptable from unacceptable death-assistance measures. We will look at three possible criteria for making that distinction.

MoralityA mercy killing can be in a person’s best interests. A person’s competent wishes should have very great weight in what is done to her. Parents’ views as to what it right for their children should normally be given significant moral weight. Mercy killing, in the

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situation where a person is suffering and faces a short life anyway, and where the person is requesting it, can be the right thing to do.

CONCLUSIONI Came on Conclusion that the Euthanasia is wrong in many ways. It degrades the moral character of patients and doctors that do not give importance to the life given by our creator, God. It also opposes the constitutionalized law in countries, where euthanasia is illegal. Furthermore, it desecrates the ethics of medicine. Finally it doesn’t end life with dignity but with disgrace. Euthanasia is both a crime and immoral act, because it practices murder and an immoral act because it deprives God’s sovereignty.