Euthanasia - Mercy Killing

EUTHANASIA

Euthanasia is the deliberate killing of a person for the benefit of that person. In most cases euthanasia is carried out because the person who dies asks for it, but there are cases called euthanasia where a person can't make such a request.A person who undergoes euthanasia is usually terminally ill, but there are other situations in which some people want euthanasia. At the heart of the ethical and religious arguments over euthanasia are the different ideas that people have of the meaning and value of human existence, and of whether human beings have the right to decide issues of life and death for themselves. There are also a number of arguments based on practical issues.Some people think that euthanasia shouldn't be allowed even if it was morally right, because it would be abused and used as a cover for murder. Euthanasia can be carried out either by doing something, such as giving a lethal injection, or by not to do something necessary to keep the person alive (for example failing to keep their feeding tube going). It is not euthanasia if a patient dies as a result of refusing extraordinary or burdensome medical treatment.It's not euthanasia to give a drug in order to reduce pain, even though the drug causes the patient to die sooner. This is because the doctor's intention was to relieve the pain, not to kill the patient. This argument is sometimes known as the Doctrine of Double Effect. Very often people call euthanasia 'mercy killing', perhaps thinking of it for someone who is terminally ill and suffering prolonged, unbearable pain. The word euthanasia comes from the Greek and means easy death. Most people think unbearable pain is the main reason people seek euthanasia, but some surveys in the USA and the Netherlands showed that less than a third of requests for euthanasia were because of severe pain. Some says that Euthanasia should be allowed because for those in favor of euthanasia they argue that a civilized society should allow people to die in dignity and without pain, and should allow others to help them do so if they cannot manage it on their own. They say that our bodies are our own, and we should be allowed to do what we want with them. So it's wrong to make anyone live longer than they want. In fact making people go on living when they don't want to violates their personal freedom and human rights. It's immoral, they say to force people to continue living in suffering and pain. They add that as suicide is not a crime, euthanasia should not be a crime.

Religious opponents of euthanasia believe that life is given by God, and only God should decide when to end it. Other opponents fear that if euthanasia was made legal, the laws regulating it would be abused, and people would be killed who didn't really want to die. Euthanasia is illegal in most countries, although doctors do sometimes carry out euthanasia even where it is illegal. Euthanasia is illegal in Britain. To kill another person deliberately is murder, even if the other person asks you to kill them. It is also a criminal offence in Britain, punishable by 14 years' imprisonment, to assist, aid or counsel somebody in relation to taking their own life.