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Euthanasia: A Question Of Ethics - Example Papers

Euthanasia: A Question Of Ethics



Euthanasia is one of the most acute and uncomfortable contemporary
problems in medical ethics. Is Euthanasia Ethical? The case for euthanasia
rests on one main fundamental moral principle: mercy.
It is not a new issue; euthanasia has been discussed-and practised-in
both Eastern and Western cultures from the earliest historical times to the
present. But because of medicine's new technological capacities to extend life,
the problem is much more pressing than it has in the past, and both the
discussion and practice of euthanasia are more widespread.
Euthanasia is a way of granting mercy-both by direct killing and by
letting the person die. This principle of mercy establishes two ...

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or contribute to a patient's improvement or cure.
Perhaps the most familiar contemporary medical example is the treatment of burn
victims when survival is unprecedented; if with the treatments or without them
the chances of the patient's survival is nil, mercy requires the physician not
to impose the debridement treatments , which are excruciatingly painful, when
they can provide the patient no benefit at all. Although the demands of mercy
in burn contexts have become fairly well recognized in recent years, other
practises that the principles of mercy would rule out remain common. For
instance, repeated cardiac resuscitation is sometimes performed even though a
patient's survival is highly unlikely; although patients in arrest are
unconscious at the time of resuscitation, it can be a brutal procedure, and if
the patient regains consciousness, its aftermath can involve considerable pain.
Patients are sometimes subjected to continued unproductive, painful treatment to
complete a ...

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the principle asserts a duty to act to end
suffering that is already occurring. Medicine already honours this duty through
its various techniques of pain management, including physiological means like
narcotics, nerve blocks, acupuncture, and neurosurgery. In some cases pain or
suffering is severe but cannot be effectively controlled, at least as long as
the patient remains sentient at all. Classical examples include tumours of the
throat, tumours of the brain or bone, and so on. Severe nausea, vomiting, and
exhaustion may increase the patient's misery. In these cases, continuing life-
or at least continuing consciousness- may mean continuing pain. Mercy's demand
for euthanasia ...

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PAPER DETAILS
Added: 5/11/2006 02:59:08 AM
Category: Health & Medicine
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1619
Pages: 6

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