Euthanasia and Assisted suicide

Dr. Aman Ullah

B.Sc. MLT
Ph.D. Microbiology
 Euthanasia

 Euthanasia has been defined as a deliberate act undertaken by one person with the
intention of ending the life of another person to relieve that person’s suffering
 A doctor is allowed by law to end a person’s life by a painless means, as long as the
patient and their family agree
 Euthanasia is the act of deliberately ending a person's life to relieve suffering
Types of Euthanasia

 Euthanasia may be ‘‘voluntary,’’ ‘‘involuntary,’’ or ‘‘non-voluntary,’’

 Voluntary: When euthanasia is conducted with consent
 Voluntary euthanasia is currently legal in Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Switzerland, and the states of Oregon and Washington in the U.S
Types of Euthanasia

 Non-voluntary: When euthanasia is conducted on a person who is unable to

consent due to their current health condition. In this scenario the decision is made
by another appropriate person, on behalf of the patient, based on their quality of
life and suffering
 Involuntary: When euthanasia is performed on a person who would be able to
provide informed consent, but does not, either because they do not want to die, or
because they were not asked
 This is called murder, as it’s often against the patients will
Active and passive euthanasia

 "Active euthanasia" is refer to deliberately intervening to end someone's life – for

example, by injecting them with a large dose of sedatives
 "Passive euthanasia" is sometimes used to refer to causing someone's death by
withholding or withdrawing treatment that is necessary to maintain life
Active and passive euthanasia

It's important not to confuse "passive euthanasia" with withdrawing life-

sustaining treatment in the person's best interests. Withdrawing life-
sustaining treatment because it's in the person's best interests can be part
of good palliative care and is not euthanasia
Assisted suicide

 Assisted suicide has been defined as ‘‘the act of intentionally killing oneself with
the assistance of another who deliberately provides the knowledge, means, or
both’’
 In ‘‘physician-assisted suicide,’’ a physician provides the assistance
 A doctor assists a patient to commit suicide if they request it
Ethics

 There is considerable disagreement about whether euthanasia and assisted suicide

are ethically distinct from decisions to forgo life-sustaining treatments
 At the heart of the debate is the ethical significance given to the intentions of those
performing these acts
 Supporters of euthanasia and assisted suicide reject the argument that there is an
ethical distinction between these acts and acts of forgoing life-sustaining treatment
Ethics

 They claim, instead, that euthanasia and assisted suicide are consistent with the
right of patients to make autonomous choices about the time and manner of their
own death
 Opponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide claim that death is a predictable
consequence of the morally justified withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments only
in cases where there is a fatal underlying condition, and that it is the condition,
not the action
of withdrawing treatment, that causes death
Ethics

 A physician who performs euthanasia or assists in a suicide, by comparison, has

the death of the patient as his or her primary objective
 Although opponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide recognize the importance
of self-determination, they argue that individual autonomy has limits and that the
right to self-determination should not be given ultimate standing in social policy
regarding euthanasia and assisted suicide
Ethics

 Supporters of euthanasia and assisted suicide believe that these acts benefit
terminally ill patients by relieving their suffering
 Opponents argue that the compassionate grounds for endorsing these acts cannot
ensure that euthanasia will be limited to people who request it voluntarily
 Opponents of euthanasia are also concerned that the acceptance of euthanasia may
contribute to an increasingly casual attitude toward private killing in society
Ethics

 Most commentators make no formal ethical distinction between euthanasia and

assisted suicide, since in both cases the person performing the euthanasia or
assisting the suicide deliberately facilitates the patient’s death
 There is also disagreement about whether euthanasia and
assisted suicide should rightly be considered ‘‘medical’’ procedures
Ethics

 In Islamic countries, 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
 Questions/Suggestions
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