Euthanasia

Euthanasia, or mercy killing, is the act of painlessly ending the lives of individuals who are suffering from an incurable disease or severe disability. It can be divided into two subgroups, passive and active euthanasia.

Passive euthanasia occurs when a person is allowed to die by withholding treatment, such as withdrawing a life-sustaining device. This could involve turning off a respirator or heart-lung machine. Technological advances in life-support devices raise the issue of quality of life. Should patients be kept alive in hopeless states? Passive euthanasia has become acceptable in cases of terminally ill patients. The argument that once equated this practice with suicide is rarely heard today. Although experts do not entirely agree on the precise boundaries of what treatment decisions should be made. For example, can a comatose patients life support be disconnected when the patient has left no written instructions, or does the family have the right to over rule a physicians order to continue life support? These questions have no clear cut answers.

The second form of euthanasia is active euthanasia. Active euthanasia occurs when death is deliberately induced, as when a lethal dose of a drug is administered to a patient. The most widely publicized cases of active euthanasia involve "assisted suicide." Jack Kevorkian, a Michigan physician, has assisted many terminally ill patients to end their lives. Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder and given a long prison sentence, after a controversial trial. Active euthanasia is a crime in most countries, and in all US states except Oregon. In 1994, Oregon passed the Death with Dignity Act. This act allows active euthanasia of individuals diagnosed with a terminal illness who are not expected to live more than six months.

While active euthanasia sounds acceptable in theory, the potential for abuse is substantial. If active euthanasia were to become acceptable, it's likely that depressed and suicidal individuals would use this method to legally kill themselves.

Reference:

Santrock, John. Life-Span Development: Tenth Edition. Ed. Emily Barrosse. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 635-36.