EUTHANASIA

Meanings of TermsThe word Euthanasia comes from the Greek language: “eu” means good and “thanatos” means death.It comes in two main forms:

a)Passive Euthanasia:

b)Active Euthanasia:

Where are euthanasia and assisted suicide legal?

Only three places besides Oregon openly and legally authorized assisted suicide:

• The Netherlands

• Belgium

• Switzerland

VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA SOCIETY

Rules of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New Zealand IncTHE aims and objective of the Society shall be:

(i) to campaign for and promote legislation to permit the administration of voluntary euthanasia to competent adults who request it and who suffer from a terminal or incurable disease or condition causing deterioration of quality of life to a level that the applicant finds unacceptable.

(ii) to campaign for, and promote repeal of, that section of the Crimes Act relating to the offences of aiding and abetting suicide (by a competent adult).

Poll resultsThe question was:If a person has a disease that will ultimately destroy their mind or body and they want to take their own life, should a doctor be allowed to assist the person in taking their own life, or not?The answers were:Jan. 2006Jul. 2005Should be allowed56%54%Should not37%39%Not sure7%7%Source: CBS NewsMethodology: Telephone interviews with 1,229 American adults, conducted from Jan. 20 to Jan. 25, 2006. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

Exhibit A

•Karen Ann Quinlan (March 29, 1954 – June 11, 1985) was an important person in the history of the right to die controversy in the United States.

•When she was 21, Quinlan became unconscious after coming home from a party. She had consumed Valium and alcohol.

•. After she was kept alive on a ventilator for several months without improvement, her parents requested the hospital discontinue active care and allow her to die.

•Although Quinlan was removed from active life support during 1976, she lived on in a coma for almost a decade until her death from pneumonia in 1985.

Exhibit B

•Schiavo had collapsed in her home on February 25, 1990, and experienced respiratory and cardiac arrest, resulting in extensive brain damage, a diagnosis of persistent vegetative state (PVS) and 15 years of institutionalization. Terri Schiavo was healthy, active, and employed until her cardiac arrest event.

•. While as early as 1993, Michael as Terri's guardian, had entered a Do Not Resuscitate order for her which he was soon convinced to have rescinded, in 1998 he petitioned under Florida law Section 765.401(3) the Pinellas County Circuit Court to remove her feeding tube

•The Federal government's significant involvement during March 2005 in a last-ditch effort to keep Schiavo alive, with President Bush travelling from vacation back to Washington D.C. specifically to sign the legislation, made it a major national news story throughout that month.

•The local court's decision to disconnect Schiavo from life support was carried out, on March 18, 2005 and Schiavo died of effects of dehydration at a Pinellas Park hospice on March 31, 2005.

Arguments For Euthanasia: •It provides a way to relieve extreme pain •It provides a way of relief when a person's quality of life is low •Frees up medical funds to help other people •It is another case of freedom of choice

Arguments Against Euthanasia: •Euthanasia devalues human life •Euthanasia can become a means of health care cost containment •Physicians and other medical care people should not be involved in directly causing death •There is a "slippery slope" effect that has occurred where euthanasia has been first been legalized for only the terminally ill and later laws are changed to allow it for other people or to be done non-voluntarily.