Question

physician-assisted suicide and contrasted it with euthanasia. Do you agree with either of them? Where do you stand in this week’s forum topic of passive vs active euthanasia and why?

Answer 1

Physician assisted suicide(PAS) is the case where physician give knowledge about lethal drug or means to lethal drug or both to a person who ends his life by taking lethal means.

Euthunasia is also a physician assisted death where a terminally ill patient is administered with lethal drugs.

Though both appear to be similar but there is huge difference

In PAS drug is administered by person himself and physician only give knowledge of means to suicide while in euthunasia drug is administered by physician .

Moreover , in euthanasia , terminal illness is necessary condition while in PAS it is not.

Many states have law that allow euthunasia but no country has law whi h allow PAS.

I agree with euthanisia that too only passive and not with PAS .

Active euthanasia is about giving lethal drug or therapy to make ill person dead while in passive euthanasia , no killer drug is administered but life supporting system is withdrawn that causes natural death of ill patient.

I am not in favor of active euthanasia even if reduces the sufferings in some cases. In it a doctor has to become a killer who is known as healer . It is also contrary to the Hippocratic Oath, which is the oath historically taken by physicians. That state "I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel.

Also , once allowed it will be difficult to regulate genuine and ingenuine cases.

I think passive euthanisia must be allowed as it does not involved active killing . It will help in reducing the suffering of terminally ill patients .