A survey of the debates with regards to euthanasia

Open in a separate window The proportion of non-treatment decisions also differed substantially between countries: Alleviation of pain and symptoms while taking into account or appreciating hastening of death as a possible side-effect happened more frequently and in comparable rates in all countries: These rates show that end-of-life decision-making with a possible or certain life-shortening effect is practiced everywhere in the studied West-European countries.

Marker and Kathi Hamlon One of the most important public policy debates today surrounds the issues of euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Questions and Answers on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

The outcome of that debate will profoundly affect family relationships, interaction between doctors and patients, and concepts of basic ethical behavior.

With so much at stake, more is needed than a duel of one-liners, slogans and sound bites. The following answers to frequently asked questions are designed as starting points for considering the issues.

For more detailed information see the documented, in-depth material available at this web site. Where are euthanasia and assisted suicide permitted?

It frees up hospital beds and resources

What is the difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide? One way to distinguish them is to look at the last act — the act without which death would not occur.

For example, giving a patient a lethal injection or putting a plastic bag over her head to suffocate her would be considered euthanasia.

On the other hand, if the person who dies performs the last act, assisted suicide has taken place. Thus it would be assisted suicide if a person intentionally swallows an overdose of drugs that has been provided by a doctor for the purpose of causing death.

Modern medicine has definitely lengthened life spans. A century ago, high blood pressure, pneumonia, appendicitis, and diabetes likely meant death, often accompanied by excruciating pain. Women had shorter life expectancies than men since many died in childbirth.

Should people be forced to stay alive? But the law already permits patients or their surrogates to withhold or withdraw unwanted medical treatment even if that increases the likelihood that the patient will die. Thus, no one needs to be hooked up to machines against their will.

It is also cruel and inhumane.

It ends the patient life because he/she is already terminally ill

There comes a time when continued attempts to cure are not compassionate, wise, or medically sound. Does the government have the right to make people suffer? Likewise, the government should not have the right to give one group of people e. Activists often claim that laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide are government mandated suffering.

But this claim would be similar to saying that laws against selling contaminated food are government mandated starvation.

Laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide are in place to prevent abuse and to protect people from unscrupulous doctors and others.

They are not, and never have been, intended to make anyone suffer.

Suicide is not illegal, and, tragically, people can and do intentionally end their own lives. Every 40 seconds a person dies by suicide somewhere in the world.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide, however, are not private acts. Rather, they involve at least one person facilitating the death of another.

This is a matter of very public concern since it can lead to tremendous abuse, exploitation and erosion of care for the most vulnerable people among us.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are not about giving rights to the person who dies but, instead, they are about changing public policy, giving doctors the power to prescribe or administer lethal drugs.

Ending the life of another person is homicide. Pain concerns are one of the least cited reasons for assisted-suicide requests. In Belgium, an elderly couple announced plans to be euthanized even though neither had a terminal illness.Jul 28,  · Two decades of research on euthanasia in the Netherlands have resulted into clear insights in the frequency and characteristics of euthanasia and other medical end-of-life decisions in the Netherlands.

These empirical studies have contributed to the quality of the public debate, and to the.

Legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide: the illusion of safeguards and controls. J.

• Euthanasia - Wikipedia
• Legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide: the illusion of safeguards and controls
• BBC - Ethics: Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide

Pereira, MBChB MSc * Author information Evidence for the practical slippery slope in the debate on physician assisted suicide and euthanasia. Med Law Review. ;. ] Euthanasia lausannecongress2018.com is a nonpartisan, nonprofit website that presents research, studies, and pro and con statements on questions about euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide and related end-of-life issues.

Some people find our use of the phrase "physician-assisted suicide" inaccurate and inappropriate, and they suggest we use . Euthanasia is legal in a few modern democracies: the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland.

Debate: Assisted suicide - Debatepedia, Debate on Euthanasia

In the Netherlands, voluntary euthanasia has been legal since , with some 3, people requesting it . Reflections on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Fr.

Frank Pavone National Director, Priests for Life. 1. Do we have a "right to die?" When people ask me about the "right to die," I respond, "Don't worry -- you won't miss out on it!". Emanuel EJ History of euthanasia debates in the United States and Britain.

Ann there has been an intense debate about the ethics and legality of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide Heilig S The SFMS euthanasia survey: results and analysis.