EUTHANASI

A AND
ASSISTED
SUICIDE
SHOULD THEY BE
LEGALIZED?
 Euthanasia

DEFINITIO refers to the act of intentionally ending the life of a patient by

a health care practitioner by means of active drug
NS
administration at that patient’s explicit request.
Passive euthanasia
is the withdrawal or withholding of life-sustaining medical
intervention
Medically assisted suicide
is similar to euthanasia but involves the provision or
prescribing of drugs by a health care practitioner for a patient
to take themselves and end their own life
LEGALITY OF
EUTHANASIA
ARGUMENTS FOR
• preserves individual autonomy
• the right to self-determination during the end of life
• allows people to choose a death with dignity
A human right issue - European Court of Human Rights
Pretty v. the United Kingdom - 2346/02
In giving judgment, the ECHR recognized that ‘in an era of growing medical
sophistication combined with longer life expectancies, many people are
concerned that they should not be forced to linger on in old age or in states of
advanced physical or mental decrepitude’
ARGUMENTS AGAINST
The common ground is that an inevitable and undesired expansion will take place and the
practices will result in error, abuse and infringement on the rights of vulnerable populations

1. Religious opposition: is often based on the

principle of sanctity of life
2. Abusing the vulnerable groups: such as those
with psychiatric illness and minors
3. The right to life
4. Medical ethics: against the Hippocratic Oath
 ~Canada~
there are instances where some
people with manageable
disabbilities choose a medically PROBLEMS IN
COUNTRIES WHERE
assisted death, but not because of
IT IS LEGAL
the pain and rather because of
poverty. It is a way to end the
financial struggle caused by their
disease.
As a solution, the state should implement a fair
and sufficient social support sistem
AS A CONCLUSION
2002 - THE NETHERLANDS BECAME THE FIRST
COUNTRY TO LEGALIZE MERCY KILLINGS AND
ASSISTED SUICIDE
Every jurisdiction that has legalized euthanasia and/or physician-assisted suicide has implemented substantive
legal and procedural requirements and safeguards
It requires that:
• There must be a longstanding doctor/patient relationship
• The patient's suffering must be unbearable without any prospect of improvement
• All feasible treatments must have been exhausted and all other options considered
• The request to die must be well-considered and have been made persistently and voluntarily
• An independent physician is required to give a second medical opinion
• The process must finally be scrutinized by an independent commission.

If these conditions are met the patient is allowed to end his or her life