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Brief Look At Euthanasia Essay Research Paper 2

Brief Look At Euthanasia- Essay, Research Paper


Brief Look at Euthanasia-


Euthanasia is one of the most acute and uncomfortable


contemporary problems in medical ethics. Is Euthanasia Ethical? The


case for euthanasia rests on one main fundamental moral principle:


mercy.


It is not a new issue; euthanasia has been discussed-and


practised-in both Eastern and Western cultures from the earliest


historical times to the present. But because of medicine’s new


technological capacities to extend life, the problem is much more.


Euthanasia is a way of granting mercy-both by direct killing and by


letting the person die. This principle of mercy establishes two


component duties:


1. the duty not to cause further pain or suffering; and


2. the duty to act to end pain or suffering already occurring.


Under the first of these, for a physician or other caregiver


to extend mercy to a suffering patient may mean to refrain from


procedures that cause further suffering-provided, of course, that the


treatment offers the patient no overriding benefits. The ph s


performed even though a patient’s survival is highly unlikely;


although patients in arrest are unconscious at the time of


resuscitation, it can be a brutal procedure, and if the patient


regains consciousness, its aftermath can involve considerable pain.


In many such cases, the patient will die whether or not the treatments


are performed. In some cases, however, the principle of mercy may also


demand withholding treatment that could extend the patient’s life if


the treatment is itself painful or discomf The principle of mercy may


also demand letting die in a still stronger sense. Under its second


component, the principle asserts a duty to act to end suffering that


is already occurring. Medicine already honours this duty through its

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various techniques Ending the pain, though with it the life, may be


accomplished through what is usually called “passive euthanasia”,


withholding or withdrawing treatment that could prolong life. In the


most indirect of these cases, the patient is simply not given


treatment.


The second component of the mercy principle may also demand


the easing of pain by means more direct than mere allowing to die;


it may require killing. This usually is called “active euthanasia. In


passive euthanasia, treatment is withheld that could sucesses and


waits for eventual death to ensue; rather. it is one that brings the


pain- and the patient’s life- to an end now. If there are also grounds


on which it is merciful not to prolong life, then there are grounds on


which it is merciful to terminat Pain is a thing of the medical past,


and euthanasia is no longer necessary, though it may have been, to


relieve pain. Given modern medical technology and recent remarkable


advances in pain management, the sufferings of the morally wounded and


dying can It is flatly incorrect to say that all pain, including pain


in terminal illness, is or can be controlled. Some people still die in


unspeakable agony. With superlative care, many kinds of pain can


indeed be reduced in many patients, and adequate control ncy may mean


an agonizing final few hours. Even a patient receiving the most


advanced and sympathetic medical attention may still experience


episodes of pain, perhaps altering with consciousness, as his or her


condition deteriorates and the physician att In all of these cases, of


course, the patient can be sedated into unconsciousness; this does


indeed end the pain. But in respect of the patient’s experience, this


is tantamount to causing death: the patient has no further conscious


experience and thus cannot feel pain.

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