Euthanasia

Euthanasia

Introduction

Euthanasia, also called 'Mercy Killing' and 'Physician Assisted Suicide; is a term in medical ethics for the practice of interfering or intervening in a natural process towards death (Rachel, 1986). In other words it is accelerating the natural course of death in terminally ill patients, when all treatments become ineffective or much too painful for the patient to bear. In short Euthanasia is ending a human life with the intention of relieving the person from an unbearable pain. Haris (2001) precisely defines Euthanasia as 'a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life to relieve intractable suffering'. The ...