Euthanasi An Intentional Act Essay - 1793 Words

Introduction and Controversy The topic that caused interest to me while being in this course is Euthanasia. Euthanasia is a very controversial topic due to what it stands for. Euthanasia comes from the Greek for â€Å"good† or â€Å"merciful† death. It is a â€Å"the art of painlessly putting to death persons suffering from incurable conditions or diseases.† Currently euthanasia makes a distinction between active and passive euthanasia although many prefer the distinction between positive and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is an intentional act that causes death. Active euthanasia brings kind death to through direct intervention the act kills the patient directly. Passive Euthanasia is an intentional act to avoid prolonging the dying process. By contrast the passive euthanasia is the withholding or withdrawing of life-prolonging and life-sustaining technologies. Euthanasia can be distinguished from murder due to the motive, murder would be killing someone for reasons other than kindness. There are four kinds of euthanasia that can be described as:1) Natural Euthanasia: is simply a natural good death, a painless death that comes upon on without necessity of medicine or an attending physician to alleviate physical suffering, 2) Moral Euthanasia: A valiant facing and accepting of death, a courageous death, 3) Therapeutic Euthanasia: The easing of the pain which often accompanies death by the use of therapeutic doses of narcotics, and 4) Merciful Euthanasia: May be voluntary or