Types of Euthanasia: Active, Passive, and Voluntary Euthanasia
A meaning of Euthanasia is, “an effortless killing, particularly to end a hurting and untreatable disease; mercy killing. The main subject of Euthanasia is considered as the heart battle, in which matters have been fetched between religious social and political groups. It has been found that euthanasia has a number of meanings as per other social, political and religious terms. The main aim of this essay is to explore the argument and supportive points by taking relevant journal articles. Euthanasia is the term on which the thinking and perception of people are different. This essay will elaborate the discussion on the topic which would be helpful for giving a better understanding.
Brouwer, Kaczor, Battin, Maeckelberghe, Lantos & Verhagen, (2018), defined that there are two kinds of euthanasia that is active and passive euthanasia in which the meaning of passive euthanasia is referred as the speeding up the death of a person in which the medical treatment is prevented by doctors, for instance, taking away life support systems, preventing medical procedures and food and water, no providing CPR and letting the patient’s heart stop. It has been found that the common type of passive euthanasia is to provide a heavy dose of morphine for the purpose to control the pain. With the help of this heavy doe, the patient will lead into the way of death earlier than normal. Passive euthanasia is generally used for those patients who are suffering from severe disease which treatment could not be fixed by doctors (Trappe, 2017). Active euthanasia elaborates to the procedure of sleeping pills and injection of pain-killers for the purpose to decrease the time of suffering of a patient by creating the death of the patient less painful. Voluntary euthanasia is another kind of euthanasia that shows the case of the careful patient, who demands voluntarily from the doctor to prevent his treatment. In such case-patient gets conscious that he will die soon and in spite of that prevents the treatments (Castillo & Castillo, 2018).
The role of euthanasia in the society is different, in order to do an analysis, it is required to handle this topic along with that of the majesty of dying from various perspectives that flows by society (Siegel, Sisti & Caplan, 2014). Virtuous homicide is the condition in which a patient is the one who wants that death be given to him. It is the topic of key background and rarely argued in the doctrine not only for the aim of legal discrepancies but also by the ones that spiritual appreciations are drawn from. However, it has been argued by Friedel, Terwangne, Brichard, Ruysseveldt, & Renard, (2018), that in the point of view of many people, it does not come under legal terms because to take the life of someone is considered as the suicide. Perhaps explanatory, as in such cases that have been come under practice zone, with the consent as per parent, a recently born child with a severe illness, lack of necessary members, motivated by the use of drugs at the time of pregnancy and many more. It has been found that there are a number of cases like this have arrived at the courts of several countries and they resolved not in the proper way.
Ethical Debates on Euthanasia
In the context of the dignity to death or die it can be explained that it is decreased into major two positions. The first position claims the insubstantial dignity of every human life, in the condition of death. The second one shows that the life of the human is a precious gift, which is circulated in not in an effective manner among the human beings. It has been analyzed that when the quality decomposes under severe level, life begins to lose their dignity and prevents being a respectable one. It is essential for the human beings to have the dignity and without this, the life of a man prevents being human and is created expendable (Verbakel & Jaspers, 2010).
It has been argued by Habermas, (2018), that there are various paves ways for decriminalizing suicide. In the context of the matter of life & privacy, the judgment was in the favour that the decriminalizing suicide is the part of legal death in which it comes under the right to die. It has been found that the first step was taken by Cities Mental Healthcare Act 2017. Abarshi, Papavasiliou, Preston, Brown, Payne & Impact (2014), said that Euthanasia is allowed by the Buddhism and Jainism, on the other hand, Hinduism, Islam along with Christianity are not in the favor of this subject. According to them, life is given by God and no one has tight to go beyond the life of circle which is created by the god. According to NCBI, Euthanasia can be referred in the terms of upholding the Right to life by dedicatory Right to die’ with dignity. It has been analyzed that this term does not only give the right to die for those who are facing severe issues in their life (Emanuel, Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Urwin & Cohen, 2016).
There are various negative components of legalizing euthanasia in which one of the pessimistic factors will be having the power of the doctor to decide about the life of the patients (Pasman, Rurup, Willems & Onwuteaka-Philipsen, 2009). It has been found that it is written in the book of “A natural law ethics approach”, that euthanasia can be considered as the legal terms and this term are attributing the doctors the role of God. It has been argued by those people were against with this term that if they embrace ‘the right to death with dignity’, people with deliberating illness will be willing from civilized society. The practice of soothing care counters about this perspective, as soothing care will give relief from worrying symptoms and pain (Miller, 2016). It has been found in the context of constitutions of India that Right to life is a usual right personified in article 21 bit according to this article that suicide is not the natural termination of life. It is the responsibility of the state to protect the life of human beings and it is the responsibility of the physician to give care and protect the patients from a hazardous situation. It has been said by Radbruch, Leget, Bahr, Müller-Busch, Ellershaw, de Conno, & board members of the EAPC. (2016), that if euthanasia is legalized, then there is need to give apprehension that they can stop to invest in the health. In Holland, legalized euthanasia is considered at a higher level for those who are deliberately ill.
Religious Perspectives on Euthanasia
It has been found in the context of the symptoms of mental illness that attempting to suicide is generally seen in patients that suffer from depression and schizophrenia. It is also found in patients that are facing from compulsive compulsion disorder. That is why it is vital to evaluate the status of mental of the individual searching for euthanasia. Ho & Chantagul, (2015), argued that nowadays, people are going towards immorality and injustice scenario, there is a higher chance of misusing euthanasia by members of the family for taking over the property of a patient or any other personal interest. The issues are being raised by the Supreme Court that the mercy killing should not convert into killing mercy. There are some counterarguments in the context of euthanasia in which with respect to caregivers burden, right to die supporters argue that people have a permanent, disabling condition which should be permitted to die in dignity. This argument is with the support of them who have severe health issues which cannot be treated by the doctors. These petitions are filed by a number of family members as well as sufferers. It has been found that the burden of care taken of the patient who has a chronic illness is huge because the treatment of the health issues of the patient can make weak financially and physically. Therefore, it is hardly heard that family members request for the person to give positions to let him free from painful life which could not be treated (Evans, Pasman, Deeg, Onwuteaka?Philipsen, Impact, Block & Francke, 2015).
Refusing care in medical treatment is well recognized in law, entailing medical treatment that supports life. For instance, a patient that is suffering from blood cancer can deny taking medical treatment or feeds by nasogastric tube. The gratitude of the right to decline treatment provides a process for the kind of passive euthanasia (Truog, Campbell, Curtis, Haas, Luce, Rubenfeld & Kaufman, 2008). There are a number of people that argue that permitting medical termination of pregnancy before 16 wk is referred to as the active involuntary euthanasia. In Holland, the problem of the mercy killing of misshapen babies has been discussed. In the counterargument, it has been seen that many patients in a state of persistent vegetative in chronic illness do not desire to live more and do not want to be burdened with their life. In such a way, Euthanasia can be referred in the form of upholding the Right to life with honouring and Right to die with solemnity. It has been found that euthanasia provides an opportunity for ill patients to activist for organ transplantation. This step would help other patients to live more when they get require organ for the purpose of living. It has appeared from the above statement that euthanasia not only provides “Right to die” for the fatally ill but also provide an opportunity to those who need for organ in order to live more.
There are many countries that have adopted this term in a legal way and follow the same which helps to prevent the burden. It is essential for the country that has adopted the same term in order to provide a reasonable degree of health care, in comparison of the majority of the euthanasia supporter would certainly support their argument (Steck, Egger, Maessen, Reisch & Zwahlen, 2013). It has been analyzed that the passive euthanasia is normally adopted globally. Active involuntary euthanasia is illicit in approximately all countries. Practicing of active voluntary euthanasia is found in the illegal term which is referred as criminal killing in a number of the countries which can lead the person into punishment for 14 years. On the other hand, active involuntary euthanasia is considered as legal in Belgium, Netherlands and other countries. It has been analyzed that this term is prohibited in Belgium previously but recently the government of Belgium has passed the bill in the parliament which encourage the term of euthanasia (Miller, 2016). There are more than1400 cases of euthanasia in Belgium. The aspect of death tourism or euthanasia tourism is gradually amplifying in which various patients who desire to prevent themselves from painful life can move ahead with such concept. Switzerland is a country which is well known for death tourism, where patients chiefly from German, French and British travel there for the aim to end their lives every year.
Social and Political Perspectives on Euthanasia
It can be concluded from the above discussion that euthanasia is everybody’s right because no one can force anyone to bear their painful life. However, it has been found with the help of t his essay that the perspective of a different country and people so matter but there is a number of countries and people that has adopted this term because ultimately this is a helpful strategy to get rid of painful or burdened life. The discussion has been made on the kinds of euthanasia which helped to understand the entire concept of this term in an adequate manner. it can be said that the strict standard guidelines must be made to practice euthanasia in countries where it is adopted in the form of legal. The arguments and counterarguments have been made on the same topic in order to bring better understanding of the concept in which the examples have been given by taking various countries.
References
Abarshi, E. A., Papavasiliou, E. S., Preston, N., Brown, J., Payne, S., & IMPACT, E. (2014). The complexity of nurses’ attitudes and practice of sedation at the end of life: a systematic literature review. Journal of pain and symptom management, 47(5), 915-925.
Brouwer, M., Kaczor, C., Battin, M. P., Maeckelberghe, E., Lantos, J. D., & Verhagen, E. (2018). Should pediatric euthanasia be legalized?. Pediatrics.
Castillo, A. G., & Castillo, J. G. (2018). Active and Passive Euthanasia: Current Opinion of Mexican Medical Students. Cureus 10(7): e3047. doi:10.7759/cureus.3047.
Emanuel, E. J., Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B. D., Urwin, J. W., & Cohen, J. (2016). Attitudes and practices of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Jama, 316(1), 79-90.
Evans, N., Pasman, H. R. W., Deeg, D. J., Onwuteaka?Philipsen, B. D., EURO IMPACT, Van den Block, L., … & Francke, A. (2015). Older Dutch People’s Self?Reported Advance Euthanasia Directive Completion Before and After the Enactment of the Euthanasia Law: A Time Trend Study (1998–2011). Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 63(10), 2217-2219.
Friedel, M., Terwangne, B. D., Brichard, B., Ruysseveldt, I., & Renard, M. (2018). The Belgian euthanasia law and its impact on the practises of Belgian paediatric palliative care teams. International journal of palliative nursing, 24(7), 333-337.
Habermas, J. (2018). The concept of human dignity and the realistic utopia of human rights. In Human Dignity (pp. 52-70). Routledge.
Ho, R., & Chantagul, N. (2015). Support for voluntary and nonvoluntary euthanasia: what roles do conditions of suffering and the identity of the terminally ill play?. OMEGA-Journal of Death and Dying, 70(3), 251-277.
Miller, F. G. (2016). Should a Legal Option of Physician-Assisted Death Include Those Who Are” Tired of Life”?. Perspectives in biology and medicine, 59(3), 351-363.
Radbruch, L., Leget, C., Bahr, P., Müller-Busch, C., Ellershaw, J., de Conno, F., … & board members of the EAPC. (2016). Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide: a white paper from the European Association for Palliative Care. Palliative medicine, 30(2), 104-116.
Siegel, A. M., Sisti, D. A., & Caplan, A. L. (2014). Pediatric euthanasia in Belgium: disturbing developments. Jama, 311(19), 1963-1964.
Trappe, H. J. (2017). Ethics in intensive care and euthanasia: With respect to inactivating defibrillators at the end of life in terminally ill patients. Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin, 112(3), 214-221.
Verbakel, E., & Jaspers, E. (2010). A comparative study on permissiveness toward euthanasia: Religiosity, slippery slope, autonomy, and death with dignity. Public Opinion Quarterly, 74(1), 109-139.
Truog, R. D., Campbell, M. L., Curtis, J. R., Haas, C. E., Luce, J. M., Rubenfeld, G. D., … & Kaufman, D. C. (2008). Recommendations for end-of-life care in the intensive care unit: a consensus statement by the American College of Critical Care Medicine. Critical care medicine, 36(3), 953-963.
Truog, R. D., Campbell, M. L., Curtis, J. R., Haas, C. E., Luce, J. M., Rubenfeld, G. D., … & Kaufman, D. C. (2008). Recommendations for end-of-life care in the intensive care unit: a consensus statement by the American College of Critical Care Medicine. Critical care medicine, 36(3), 953-963.
Pasman, H. R. W., Rurup, M. L., Willems, D. L., & Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B. D. (2009). Concept of unbearable suffering in context of ungranted requests for euthanasia: qualitative interviews with patients and physicians. Bmj, 339, b4362.
Steck, N., Egger, M., Maessen, M., Reisch, T., & Zwahlen, M. (2013). Euthanasia and assisted suicide in selected European countries and US states: systematic literature review. Medical care, 51(10), 938-944.
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