Euthanasia

=Euthanasia=

Euthanasia GoogleDoc

The act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment.
 * __What is it?__**

The act of a physician or other third party ending a patient's life in response to severe pain and suffering.

-"Hastening the death of a person by altering some form of support and letting nature take its course."
 * __Types:__**
 * __Passive Euthanasia__**

Passive Euthanasia is when nothing is done to a person to help them improve therefore enforcing death, such as not connecting a dying person to life support.

Active euthanasia: The active acceleration of a "good" death by use of drugs etc, whether by oneself or with the aid of a doctor. -"Active euthanasia" is taking specific steps to cause the patient's death, such as injecting the patient with poison.
 * __Active Euthanasia__**

The word "euthanasia" comes from the Greek -- "eu" meaning "goodly or well" + "thanatos" meaning "death." So, euthanasia is literally the "good death."

A doctor administers a drug to the patient that will kill the patient. The intentional termination of the life of one human being by another -mercy killing - is contrary to that for which the medical profession stands and is contrary to the policy of the American Medical Association.

__The Netherlands__ is currently the only country in the world in which euthanasia is openly and legally practiced. There, euthanasia and assisted suicide are defined by the State Commission on Euthanasia. Euthanasia is the intentional termination of life by somebody other than the person concerned at his or her request. Assisted suicide means intentionally helping a patient to terminate his or her life at his or her request. Euthanasia is the termination of life by a doctor at the express wish of a patient. The request to the doctor must be voluntary, explicit and carefully considered and it must have been made repeatedly. Moreover, the patient's suffering must be unbearable and without any prospect of improvement. Active Euthanasia is when something is done to specifically end a life for example injecting a lethal medicine to someone.

__**Physician-Assisted Suicide**__ "A physician providing medications or other means to a patient with the understanding that //the patient intends to use them to commit suicide."// -In "assisted suicide", a doctor provides a patient with the means to end his own life, but the doctor does not administer it.

Euthanasia goes back to greek times, when a peaceful death was wanted by all and later on in NAzi Germany during the Holocaust, when the murder of thousands was disguised as euthanasia.
 * __History__:**

when they are terminally ill and are in a a lot of pain
 * __When/Why would people choose this?__**

In 14% of cases, patients did not become unconscious, awoke, or lingered longer than expected.
 * __Can something go wrong?__**
 * Complications such as muscle spasms, extreme gasping and vomiting occurred in 7% of assisted suicide cases. **

no
 * __Is it painful?__**


 * __What drugs are used? What do they do?__**

The most popular methods include- Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s death machine (mercitron, thanatron) - This is a very unique innovation indeed whereby a patient can end his life himself. It consists of an injection, which initially injects normal saline. After the patient trips a switch a solution of sedatives follows, which is automatically followed by a paralyzing agent and finally by KCl. A recent modification of this machine allows the patient to inhale CO through a mask via a rubber canister connected to a cylinder. Dr. Kevorkian has used this machine, with minor variations, to allow his patients to die painlessly at a time chosen by them.
 * Lethal injection - Injection of a lethal dose of a drug, such as a known poison, KCl, etc.
 * Asphyxiation - The most popular gas used is Carbon monoxide (CO). Nerve gases like sarin & tabun etc. are also added in small amounts to fully ensure death.

In this regard it becomes necessary to distinguish between active and passive euthanasia. The above constitute methods of active euthanasia. Passive euthanasia on the other hand is constituted by methods like withdrawal of artificial life support machines like the ventilator, withdrawal of nutrition, hydration, etc. Another well-known method of passive euthanasia is the order “Do not resuscitate” written on the case sheets of many terminally ill patients.


 * __Sides:__**
 * __Pro:__**

> the terminally ill and later laws are changed to allow it for other people or to be done non-voluntarily.
 * It provides a way to relieve extreme pain
 * It provides a way of relief when a person's quality of life is low
 * Frees up medical funds to help other people
 * It is another case of freedom of choice
 * __Con:__**
 * //Many people worry that if voluntary euthanasia were to become legal, it would not be long before involuntary euthanasia would start to happen//.
 * Euthanasia devalues human life
 * Euthanasia can become a means of health care cost containment
 * Physicians and other medical care people should not be involved in directly causing death
 * There is a "slippery slope" effect that has occurred where euthanasia has been first been legalized for only
 * these people believe in "Thou shalt not kill"


 * __Cases:__**
 * __Jack Kevorkian__**- He assisted many people in their death. He video taped himself doing active euthanasia. Kevorkian went on to assist in the suicides of dozens of individuals suffering from terminal, debilitating, or chronic illnesses. Kevorkian was charged with murder several times but was not initially found guilty.



Dr. Jack Kevorkian has been known as "Dr. Death" since at least 1956, when he conducted a study photographing patients' eyes as they died. Results established that blood vessels in the cornea contract and become invisible as the heart stops beating. In a 1958 paper, he suggested that death row inmates be euthanized, and their bodily organs harvested. In 1960, he proposed using condemned prisoners for medical experiments. In 1989, a quadriplegic, too handicapped to kill himself, publicly asked for assistance, and Dr. Kevorkian began tinkering on a suicide machine. But a different patient -- Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old with Alzheimer's -- was the first to test the device. It worked. Kevorkian then provided services to at least 45 and possibly more satisfied customers. In 1997, however, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Americans who want to kill themselves -- but are physically unable to do so -- have no Constitutional right to end their lives. Kevorkian was sentenced to 10-25 years in prison, but was paroled in 2007, in failing health and nearing his own death.


 * __Terri Schiavo-__**



In February of 1990 at the age of 26, Terri Schiavo collapsed at home and oxygen was cut off to her brain for several minutes. The cause of the collapse is disputed. Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, blames a cardiac arrest induced by a potassium imbalance associated with bulimia. The Schindlers suspect he tried to strangle her, based on court testimony by a neurologist that [|Terri had suffered a neck injury when she was admitted to the hospital.] No one was aware Terri Schiavo had an eating disorder. The Schindlers told WND that Terri was very conscious of her weight because she had been heavy in high school and her husband put pressure on her to stay thin, reportedly making comments like "If you ever get that fat again, I'll divorce you." Given the lack of a living will, a trial was held during the week of January 24, 2000, to determine what Schiavo's wishes would have been regarding life-prolonging procedures. Testimony from eighteen witnesses regarding her medical condition and her end-of-life wishes was heard. Michael claimed that Schiavo would not want to be kept on a machine where her chance for recovery was minuscule. According to Abstract Appeal Trial Order, her parents "claimed that Schiavo was a devout Roman Catholic who would not wish to violate the Church's teachings on euthanasia by refusing nutrition and hydration." Judge George Greer issued his order granting Michael's petition for authorization to discontinue artificial life support for his wife in February 2000. In this decision, the court found that Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state and that she had made reliable oral declarations that she would have wanted the feeding tube removed. This decision was upheld by the Florida Second District Court of Appeal and came to be known by the court as Schiavo I in its later rulings.

US -legal only in Oregon and Washington for state residents only, with a tax payment of current year, property, terminal illness within six months, and driver's license, above the age of 18.
 * __Laws__:**

World - legal in Germany for coma patients only but illegal in rest of country, legal in the Netherlands, illegal in China, France, Britain, Italy, Colombia, Australia, and Belgium.

__**Oregon and Washington Laws**__: **Oregon**: Withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures or artificially administered nutrition and hydration does not constitute suicide, assisted suicide, homicide, or mercy killing. //**Death With Dignity Law**//:
 * must be terminally ill
 * must have 6 months or less to live
 * must make 2 oral requests to get PAS.
 * must make 1 written request
 * must convince two physicians that they are sincere and not acting on a whim, and that the decision is voluntary
 * must not have been influenced by depression
 * must be informed of "the feasible alternatives," ( comfort care, hospice care, and pain control)
 * must wait for 15 days
 * Washington**: Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide is not condoned or authorized by Washington law, nor is any act or omission other than to allow the natural process of dying. However, Withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment shall not constitute suicide or homicide


 * __Do people come in from out of state?__**
 * Under the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, it requires that you must be an adult (18 years or older), you must be a state resident (you must obtain an oregon driver's license, you must be registered to vote in the state of oregon, you must have evidence of property ownership in the state of oregon, and you must have a filling of an oregon state tax return of that current year), you must be capable meaning that you are able to communicate health care decisions, and you must be diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within 6 months. **

When the law was first in the early stages, the National Right to Life Committee supported by the Roman Catholic Church obtained a court injunction to delay the law.
 * __Do people in these states oppose these laws?__**

__**Resources:**__ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/opinion/05tue3.html [|http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/12/17/court.archive.kevorkian7/index.html?iref=http://family.jrank.org/pages/468/Euthanasia.htmlhttp://www.religioustolerance.org/euth_wld.htmhttp://www.christianliferesources.com/?news/view.php&newsid=522http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo_casehttp://law.jrank.org/pages/6602/Euthanasia-Oregon-s-Euthanasia-Law.html] http://www.nndb.com/people/272/000023203/ http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7422