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Tapper, on 04 June 2012 - 08:57 AM, said:
I'm sorry Shiara, but no, it isn't, not even in the shortest description of it. If that's how even intelligent people like you see it, there's a massive PR-problem surrounding the issue. I am very much biased in my defense of euthanasia (see below) and I know it is still very much under discussion in bio-ethics and philosophy, but I am kind of shocked that this is how people see it.
Euthanasia (from the greek combination of eu = good, and thanatos = death) is the ending of someone's life on their own request because they have lost the will to live and can personally confirm this (in cases of a coma, this may be grey territory, in which case, loved ones can request it but proof will be needed that this wasn't against the person's own beliefs - it isn;t merely a question of convenience, and euthanasia isn't applied, people are taken off life support instead), are in a hopeless medical situation (as confirmed by a medical specialist - aka, in the last stages of a terminal affliction that has been treated with all therapies available to medical science) and they are in unbearable pain without options to relieve that.
In other words: there are conditions attached to it that make euthanasia a dignified way out of life to spare someone further suffering, at best for a few days. Furthermore, the patient doesn't execute the euthanasia: a doctor does.
Here in the Netherlands, where euthanasia is (thankfully) legal, doctors can refuse to perform it - it is after all an exception to the Hippocratic oath, and you can't expect anyone to end someone elses life. It isn't also something that is casually handled: it's not something that can be done on the spur of the moment. Furthermore, the entire team of doctors and nurses that is present or worked with the patient in his final day is given time off and psychological aid and care should they wish to have it. So no, it is in no ways assisted suicide.
I've seen euthanasia being performed on my father, it might have saved him anywhere between 6-24 hours of suffering, no more - but it also saved him from a very undignified and painful death and allowed him to go quietly, dignified and in the presence of all his loved ones. The combination of those three factors, personally for me, was a massive, massive step in getting over his death. My mother had already agreed to a date and signed the relevant documents when she died herself, so in her case, it wasn't needed. As I said, it isn't suicide - it is merely artificially bringing about the inevitable during someone's final hours.
If it was anything other than that, it would be stepping into the territory of murder. Hell, there's plenty of people (likely also on this board) who already consider it murder, anyway.
Euthanasia (from the greek combination of eu = good, and thanatos = death) is the ending of someone's life on their own request because they have lost the will to live and can personally confirm this (in cases of a coma, this may be grey territory, in which case, loved ones can request it but proof will be needed that this wasn't against the person's own beliefs - it isn;t merely a question of convenience, and euthanasia isn't applied, people are taken off life support instead), are in a hopeless medical situation (as confirmed by a medical specialist - aka, in the last stages of a terminal affliction that has been treated with all therapies available to medical science) and they are in unbearable pain without options to relieve that.
In other words: there are conditions attached to it that make euthanasia a dignified way out of life to spare someone further suffering, at best for a few days. Furthermore, the patient doesn't execute the euthanasia: a doctor does.
Here in the Netherlands, where euthanasia is (thankfully) legal, doctors can refuse to perform it - it is after all an exception to the Hippocratic oath, and you can't expect anyone to end someone elses life. It isn't also something that is casually handled: it's not something that can be done on the spur of the moment. Furthermore, the entire team of doctors and nurses that is present or worked with the patient in his final day is given time off and psychological aid and care should they wish to have it. So no, it is in no ways assisted suicide.
I've seen euthanasia being performed on my father, it might have saved him anywhere between 6-24 hours of suffering, no more - but it also saved him from a very undignified and painful death and allowed him to go quietly, dignified and in the presence of all his loved ones. The combination of those three factors, personally for me, was a massive, massive step in getting over his death. My mother had already agreed to a date and signed the relevant documents when she died herself, so in her case, it wasn't needed. As I said, it isn't suicide - it is merely artificially bringing about the inevitable during someone's final hours.
If it was anything other than that, it would be stepping into the territory of murder. Hell, there's plenty of people (likely also on this board) who already consider it murder, anyway.
I'm sorry if my flippant remark offended or upset you, that was in no way my intent. I honestly thought they were the same, as I've heard them used interchangeably with no stigma on either side.
