Mona Final Euthanasia
Mona Final Euthanasia
Mona Final Euthanasia
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Institutional Affiliation
EUTHANASIA AND ITS TYPES 2
The term Euthanasia means the painless killing of a patient who is suffering from an
incurable and painful disease or in condition where the comma is irreversible in nature. It is
allowed in some countries whereas; in some countries it is considered as a crime in medical field.
Historically, the word euthanasia means the good and painless death. It can be said a death
without pain and suffering and it is also named as the mercy killing. Euthanasia is having
different types and these types are with different legal and cultural issues in different areas.
Math & Chaturvedi, have explained that the word euthanasia is derived from Greek word that
means good death. Euthanasia encompasses various dimensions, from active (introducing
(consent) to involuntary (consent from guardian) and physician assisted (where physician's
prescribe the medicine and patient or the third party administers the medication to cause death
(2012). Thus, the euthanasia is categorized as Active and passive euthanasia, Voluntary and
Firstly, the active and passive euthanasia where the direct, deliberate and indirect actions
are taken for the patients and they are allowed to die. In active euthanasia a person directly and
deliberately causes the patient's death. In passive euthanasia they don't directly take the patient's
life, they just allow them to die. The passive is further classified as by the withdrawing treatment
and with-holding the treatment. In withdrawing the treatment the medical professionals stop the
machine that is keeping the patient alive whereas, in the with-holding the medical professionals
don’t carry the procedure or surgery that can extend the life with the incurable disease. Secondly,
the voluntary and involuntary euthanasia are considered as very important. Voluntary is that in
which the death is carried out with the consent of the patient whereas; the non-voluntary is
brought when the patient is un-conscious. According to Reis de Castro et al., (2016), according
EUTHANASIA AND ITS TYPES 3
to the patient’s consents euthanasia is classified as non-voluntary and voluntary. In the first one
the patient’s will about death is not known whereas, in the latter the patient’s wish about suicide
and mercy death is fulfilled and the patient is responsible for the final actions of his/her (p. 356).
Non-voluntary euthanasia is also include those cases where the patient is a child and
mentally and emotionally not well and not able to take any kind of decision regarding death and
suicide. Thirdly, the indirect euthanasia is also a type of euthanasia that is involving those
medications which are to reduce pain and these medications speed up the death process of the
patient. As this is not directly to kill the patient therefore, most of the people don’t consider it
illegal and accept it as a better way to relieve the patient’s suffering and pain. Lastly, the assisted
suicide is something that needs assistance from a health care professional. The patients and
persons who are suffering from the issue ask for help to get death. This is as the injections and
getting the medications and keeping those medications in their reach so they can use those
Banović & Turanjanin, (2014) have explained that Euthanasia, i.e. mercy killing is both
historical and contemporary problem of medicine, law and in religions. There are number of
school of thoughts regarding mercy killing and assisted suicides around the globe. Moreover,
around the globe there are three groups which see the euthanasia in three different ways. On
group of countries think that this is murder whereas; the second group of people view that the
euthanasia is privileged murder. On the other hand, there are some countries where the
euthanasia is prohibited, both in the East and in the Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is seen as non-
Islamic and it is equalized to the murder (p. 1316). Ethically and cultural it is not considered a
good deed even it is to relieve the suffering of the patient and family.
EUTHANASIA AND ITS TYPES 4
In Christianity, and Islam euthanasia is considered as murder and sin and not allowed
even medically and ethically as well. Legally it is considered as the killing of a person and it is a
murder. The religious followers consider it as a murder and they think that God is the creator of
everything and He can cure, give life and have the right to take the breaths. This religious
opposition to euthanasia is based on the claim that only someone who is not religious can
consider euthanasia as one of the options in the life, but it cannot be for the people who have a
religious orientation.
There are number of cases which are the true picture of euthanasia and its
implementation. In Pakistan the cancer patients (particularly with bone cancer) at their last stage
suffer from the severe pain which cannot be settled and relieved even with the continuous
infusion of Morphine Sulphate. At this stage the patients and their families request to the
physicians to give medications which can lead towards the death. Similarly, in the US and UK
the patient on the ventilator support is withdrawn from the ventilator if the patient is in such
condition where he/she can’t be reversed. This causes brain death and then the physical death of
the patient.
In nutshell, it can be said that there are different view about the euthanasia around the
globe and it is present in different types i.e. active and passive, voluntary and non-voluntary,
indirect and assisted suicide. Furthermore, it is not legal and ethical in the Islam and Christianity
and it is considered as murder. However, it is also important to see whether the suffering of the
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4441884/pdf/IJPH-43-1316.pdf
Math, S. B., & Chaturvedi, S. K. (2012). Euthanasia: Right to life vs right to die. Indian Journal
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3612319/
Reis de Castro, M. P., Antunes, G. C., Pacelli Marcon, L. M., Andrade, L. S., Rückl, S., &
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1983-80422016242136