Argumentative Essay On Active Euthanasia

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An Argumentative Essay on Euthanasia in Terminally Ill Patients
Introduction
The number of patients being diagnosed with cancer and other chronic diseases is increasing worldwide (Leppert, 2013). E.g. according to GLOBOCAN 2012, an estimated 14.1 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million cancer-related deaths occurred in 2012, compared with 12.7 million and 7.6 million, respectively, in 2008. These rising numbers need the use of aggressive treatment modalities at the end of life. A high percentage of those terminal ill patients die while attached to machines, experiencing a painful and slow death rather than dying with dignity and peace (Khater, Akhu-Zaheya, Abu Alhijaa, Abdulelah, & EL-Otti, 2011). There are a lot of legal and ethical dilemmas …show more content…

Active euthanasia may be voluntary when the patient has requested to end their life (Naseh, Rafiei, & Heidari, 2015), involuntary when the person who is killed made an expressed wish to the contrary (Poreddi, Nagarajaiah, Konduru & Math, 2013), or non-voluntary in which the agreement of the person cannot be obtained because of his or her physical or mental state, thus, the patient has offered no opinion. Also Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) kind of active euthanasia refers to the patient intentionally and willfully ending his or her own life with the assistance of another party (Parpa et al., …show more content…

Euthanasia was legalized in Australia’s Northern Territory with the passage of the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act in 1995, but then government prohibited EUT with the passing of the Criminal Code Amendment (Suicide-Related Material Offences) Bill in 2004 (Siu, 2010). Both euthanasia and PAS are presently illegal in Canada a physician who kills or otherwise helps to end the life of his or her patient at the request of that patient and from the motive of mercy would nevertheless be guilty of “culpable homicide” (under sections 222 and 229 of the Criminal Code of Canada) (Schafer,