What is Euthanasia?

Euthanasia, also known as assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide (dying) doctor

assisted dying (suicide) and more loosely termed mercy killing.
In other words, Euthanasia can be defined as the act of deliberately ending a person's life to
relieve suffering.
Basically it means to take a deliberate action with the express intention of ending a life to
relieve intractable suffering. Some interpret euthanasia as the practice of ending a life in a
painless manner. Many disagree with this interpretation, because it needs to include a
reference to intractable suffering. Some examples are following
A doctor who gives a patient who has terminal cancer an overdose of muscle relaxants
to end their life would be considered to have carried out euthanasia.
Assisted suicide is the act of deliberately assisting or encouraging another person who
commits, or attempts to commit, suicide.
If a relative of a person with a terminal illness were to obtain powerful sedatives,
knowing that the person intended to take an overdose of sedatives to kill themselves,
they would be assisting suicide.
In the majority of countries euthanasia or assisted suicide is against the law. According to the
National Health Service (NHS), UK, it is illegal to help somebody kill themselves, regardless
of circumstances. Assisted suicide, or voluntary euthanasia carries a maximum sentence of 14
years in prison in the UK.
Types of Euthanasia:
1. Voluntary Euthanasia:
Where a person makes a conscious decision to die and asks for help to do this. This is
euthanasia conducted with consent. Since 2009 voluntary euthanasia has been legal in
Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the states of Oregon (USA) and
Washington (USA).

2. Involuntary Euthanasia:
Euthanasia is conducted without consent. The decision is made by another person
because the patient is incapable to doing so himself/herself.
3. Non-Voluntary Euthanasia:
Where a person is unable to give their consent (for example, because they are in
a coma or are severely brain damaged) and another person takes the decision on their behalf,
often because the ill person previously expressed a wish for their life to be ended in
such circumstances.
There are two procedural classifications of euthanasia:
1. Passive Euthanasia:
This is when life-sustaining treatments are withheld. The definition of passive
euthanasia is often not clear cut. For example, if a doctor prescribes increasing doses of
opioid analgesia (strong painkilling medications) which may eventually be toxic for the
patient, some may argue whether passive euthanasia is taking place - in most cases, the
doctor's measure is seen as a passive one. Many claim that the term is wrong, because
euthanasia has not taken place, because there is no intention to take life.
2. Active Euthanasia:
Lethal substances or forces are used to end the patient's life. Active euthanasia
includes life-ending actions conducted by the patient or somebody else.
Brief History of Euthanasia
The term Euthanasia originated from the Greek word for "good death." It is the act or practice
of ending the life of a person either by lethal injection or the suspension of medical
treatment. Because of this, many view euthanasia as simply bringing relief by alleviating
pain and suffering. The word has also been applied to situations when a decision is made to
refrain from exercising "heroic" measures in an end-of-life situation.
It is believed that euthanasia started in ancient Greece and Rome around the fifth century
B.C. They did this by abortions and every now and then performed a mercy killing. Even
though doctors were supposed to follow the Hippocratic Oath, many did not and therefore
would end up giving patients poison if they asked them to. During the middle Ages,
euthanasia was pretty much out of the question. If one committed suicide, the law in Europe
was for the body to be dragged through the streets or nailed to a barrel and left to drift
downriver (procon.org). During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries euthanasia was a
topic of discussion. However, people continued to reject euthanasia and assisted suicide. It
wasnt until 1828, for the first American law to make assisted suicide illegal. Although
America outlawed euthanasia and assisted suicide, some states were still trying to get a law
passed at the state level. During the 1930s, euthanasia started to gain support in the US and
societies who were in favor of it started to pop up not only in the US, but in England as well.
However, World War Two would change euthanasia forever. Hitler and the Nazis killed
hundreds of thousands of people using euthanasia. Hitler and company did this by gassing,
drugs, and starving the people. This put a halt on the euthanasia movement as Americans
grew less fond of euthanasia. A poll asked Americans in 1950 whether euthanasia was okay
and only 36 percent answered yes approximately 10 percent less than in the late 1930s
(procon.org). The late 20
th
and early 21
st
century would be the time for euthanasia. The
Netherlands would be the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia, and Belgium
would legalize it soon after the Netherlands did. Australia did allow euthanasia for a brief
time in the mid-90s as well. In 1998, Oregon would be the first US state to allow euthanasia
and Washington and Montana would follow.
Jack Kevorkian
Born in Pontiac, Michigan, on May 26, 1928, Jack Kevorkian became a pathologist who
assisted people suffering from acute medical conditions in ending their lives. After years of
conflict with the court system over the legality of his actions, he spent eight years in prison
after a 1999 conviction. Kevorkian's actions spurred national debate on the ethics of
euthanasia and hospice care. He died in Royal Oak, Michigan, on June 3, 2011.



Countries
Australia:
On 25 May 1995, the Northern Territory of Australia became the first place in the
world to pass right to die legislation. The Rights of the Terminally Ill Act lasted 9 months
before being overturned by the Australian Federal Parliament. Today, Voluntary Euthanasia
and Assisted Suicide are illegal in all states and territories of Australia.
The only end-of-life laws that exist are a patchwork of Advance Medical Directive and Power
of Attorney laws, none of which allow a person to ask for active assistance to die. These laws
operate on a state-by-state basis. Your access to these laws depends entirely on where you
live will.
In Australia, active voluntary euthanasia, assisted suicide and physician-assisted suicide are
illegal. In general, across all Australian states and territories, any deliberate act resulting in
the death of another person is defined as murder. The prohibition of euthanasia and assisted
suicide is established in the criminal legislation of each Australian state, as well as the
common law in the common law states of New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria.
The prohibition of euthanasia and assisted suicide in Australia has been the status quo for
many years now. However, there was a period when the Northern Territory permitted
euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide under the Rights of Terminally Ill Act (1995). The
Act came into effect in 1996 and made the Northern Territory the first place in the world to
legally permit active voluntary euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. Under this Act,
competent terminally ill adults who were aged 18 or over, were able to request a physician to
help them in dying. This Act was short-lived however, after the Federal Government
overturned it in 1997 with the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997. The Euthanasia Laws Act 1997
denied states the power to legislate to permit euthanasia or assisted suicide. There have been
a number of attempts in various Australian states, over the past decade and more recently, to
legislate for euthanasia and assisted suicide, but all have failed to date, owing to a majority
consensus against euthanasia.
Switzerland:
Active euthanasia is illegal, under Article 114 of the Swiss Penal Code, although the
Code provides for differential penalties depending upon motive. Swiss judges may thus
mitigate the penalty if the person's motives were honourable, e.g., if the killing was motivated
by mercy and at the individual's request.
Article 115 of the same Code defines "aiding and abetting suicide", the offense of which
requires a selfish motive. Thus, an altruistically motivated death by physician assisted suicide
is not punishable under Swiss law.
A right to die organisation in Switzerland, EXIT has, since 1982, been providing assistance
with dying in accordance with the law and a set of its own additional requirements, according
to which the individual must be:
18 years of age or over a Swiss resident mentally competent and suffering from
intolerable health problems
A doctor working with EXIT, considers the application, with reference to the additional
expertise of lawyers, psychiatrists or other doctors if necessary, and a member of EXIT's
team provides lethal medication to the patient. The police are informed after a death and
appropriate officials notified, who then visit the scene to establish whether or not the death
was within the law. Around 100-120 patients die, with the assistance of EXIT, each year.
Switzerland has allowed physician and non-physician assisted suicide, since 1941, but
prohibits euthanasia.
Right-to-die organizations in the country help terminally ill people by providing counselling
and lethal drugs. Death by injection is banned.
New Zealand
There is no direct mention of euthanasia or assisted suicide in New Zealand's laws.
However, there are certain underlying principles of the law which clearly show that
euthanasia is illegal in New Zealand.
Court decisions
In April 1999 John Karnon was sentenced in the High Court to two years supervision
after pleading guilty to a charge of manslaughter over the death of his ill wife in January
1999. Euthanasia campaigners said that the case showed the need for legislation.
In October 2001 Dr. Chris Simpson was convicted of manslaughter after his terminally ill
mother was found dead in October 2000. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment.
In August 2002 Rex Law was sentenced to an 18-month jail term with the option of home
detention for the death of his ill wife in March 2002. He ultimately served 9 months in prison.
March 2003 saw Lesley Martin arrested for the attempted murder of her dying mother after
claiming in her book, To Die like a Dog, that she twice tried to assist her mother to die in
1999. Controversy arose over Wanganui District Court judge Gregory Ross banning her from
giving media interviews, and promoting pro-euthanasia views and sales of any work already
done containing those views.
In May the same year police decided not to pursue criminal charges against Ralph Vincent
following the death of his terminally ill wife in September 2002. Mrs Vincent was found with
a plastic bag over her head. The investigation into Mrs Vincent's death centered on whether it
was suicide or assisted suicide. In April 2005, Mr Vincent, 86, was found dead, after
apparently taking his own life. He left a notice to say that he had committed suicide and did
not want any attempts made to revive him.
In 2004 Nelson man was found not guilty of the murder or manslaughter of his 5-month old
infant daughter. Baby C had a brain as developed as a 13 week old foetus and it would never
develop beyond that. Several child advocacy groups feel this decision is an erosion of the
rights of severely disabled children and paves the way for them to be killed indiscriminately.
On 30 April 2004 Martin was convicted of attempted murder. She served nine months of a
fifteen-month sentence and subsequently failed in two appeals to have her conviction
overturned.
After serving her sentence Martin broke ties with Dr Nitschke and changed 'Exit NZ' to
'Dignity New Zealand'.
Christchurch MP Tim Barnett once again decided to throw his support behind efforts to
legalise euthanasia. He announced on February 1, 2005 that he wants to see voluntary
euthanasia on Labour's post-election social reform agenda.
Canada:
In Canada as in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, suicide is legal but assisted
suicide and voluntary euthanasia are illegal. However, one politician, the Bloc Qubcois
Member of Parliament from La Pointe-de-l'le, Francine Lalonde, has introduced three
private member's bills aimed at legalizing VE and assisted suicide.
In early December 2009, debate on Lalonde's current Private Member's Bill - Bill C-384 -
was again postponed until February 2010. Sadly, it is expected to be defeated when the Bill
finally goes to a vote. Francine Lalonde's bill is interesting for a number of reasons.
Unlike other jurisdictions that have attempted to create specific assisted suicide laws,
Lalonde's most recent bill attempts to add an exception to the Canadian Criminal Code. In
this regard, C-384 is designed to ensure that doctors who help a person die do not face
criminal prosecution.
As with all legislation of this nature, there are built-in safeguards.
The person requesting assistance must be at least 18 years old and have continued to
"experience severe physical or mental pain without any prospect of relief," after being given
or refusing treatment. A terminal diagnosis is also considered grounds for a request for
assistance to die.
In introducing the Bill, Lalonde has said "the time has come for this Parliament to find a way
to decriminalize medical assistance in dying, which is of such vital importance to those
whose suffering can no longer be relieved except by this ultimate compassion."
Lalonde notes that the three countries in the EU and two US states that have legalized
assisted suicide there has been no "hypothetical slippery slope".
Prior to this current Private Member's Bill, Lalonde introduced two earlier Bills - the first in
June 2005 (Bill C-407) and then again in June 2008 (Bill C-562), aimed at legalizing
euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada.
In April 2011, Lee Carter, Hollis Johnson, Dr. William Shoichet and The British Columbia
Civil Liberties Association filed a civil claim in the Supreme Court of British Columbia
against exisiting laws that make assisted suicide and euthanasia illegal in Canada.
Methods of Euthanasia
Competent adult patients have the right to refuse medical treatment. Such refusals of
treatments are morally and ethically different from euthanasia, and should remain legally
different.
When, however, an action or medication is withheld from a patient for the primary purpose of
causing or hastening death, this is passive, or indirect, euthanasia. These measures may
include the with-holding or withdrawal of ordinary measures such as food, water (hydration)
and oxygen.
Examples of passive euthanasia are:
when food and water is withheld from sick or disabled new born babies who might
otherwise have lived
with-holding or withdrawing food and water from someone who is diagnosed as being
in a 'persistent vegetative state,' has dementia, or who is not improving fast enough
(e.g. from a stroke)
'do not resuscitate' orders written on patients' charts
Drugs:
In Oregon, a doctor can write a prescription for drugs that are intended to kill the
patient. When the prescription is filled, directions centre on making certain that the patient
understands about taking all the pills in a single dose, dies after taking the prescription.
The lethal drugs are covered by some Oregon health insurance plans. They are paid for by the
state Medicaid program under a funding category called "comfort care."
Research into euthanasia in the Netherlands claimed people awake from comas after taking
supposedly fatal drug doses and suffer side effects such as vomiting and gasping.
To reduce the chances of the euthanasia drugs being vomited up, an anti-emetic must be
given.
The study showed that when patients tried to kill themselves using drugs prescribed by a
doctor, the medication did not work as expected in 16% of cases. In a further 7% of cases
there were technical problems or unexpected side effects.
Problems surface so often that doctors felt compelled to intervene in 18% of cases, according
to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine. Even when the doctor directly performed
euthanasia, complications developed in 3% of the attempts. Patients either took longer to die
than expected or woke from a drug-induced coma that was supposed to be fatal in 6% of
cases.
Injections:
In the Netherlands, the practice is an injection to render the patient comatose,
followed by a second injection to stop the heart.
First a coma is induced by intravenous administration of barbiturates, followed by a muscle
relaxant. The patient usually dies as the result of anoxemia caused by the muscle relaxant.
When death is delayed, intravenous potassium chloride is also given to hasten cardiac arrest.
Starvation and Dehydration
Right-to-die activists often advocate the withdrawal of food and water in order to hasten
death. This means of death is frequently approved when application is made to the courts.
Proponents of euthanasia recommend the use of what is known as Terminal Sedation in
combination with the withdrawal of food and water.
Terminal sedation allows for the measured use of sedatives and analgesics for the necessary
control of symptoms such as intolerable pain, agitation, and anxiety, in order to relieve the
distress of the patient and of family members.
If all food and fluids (nutrition and hydration) are removed from a person -- whether that
person is a healthy Olympic athlete who takes food and fluids by mouth or a frail, disabled
person who receives them by a feeding tube -- death is inevitable. That death will occur
because of dehydration.
Dr. Helga Kuhse, a leading campaigner for euthanasia, said in 1984: "If we can get people to
accept the removal of all treatment and care especially the removal of food and fluids they
will see what a painful way this is to die and then, in the patient's best interest, they will
accept the lethal injection."
Gases, Plastic Bags and The Peaceful Pill:
This method, referred to as 'self-deliverance,' is most commonly advocated by right-
to-die activists such as Derek Humphry and Dr Philip Nitschke. In Humphry's book Final
Exit describes the method and has been found in the possession of people who have used the
method to commit suicide.
Dr Nitschke developed what he calls the 'CO Genie' - an apparatus that turns out lethal
carbon monoxide that can be made at home. Nitschke has held workshops in Australia and
New Zealand teaching people how to manufacture such devices for themselves.
Dr Nitschke's latest initiative is a barbiturate-based 'peaceful pill.' Nitschke's Peanut Project
(named for an old street term for "Barbiturate") intends holding workshops for small groups
of elderly and seriously ill Exit members from different countries to make their own Peaceful
Pill.



Euthanasia in Islam
Life is sacred and holy
Allah is the one who gave you life, than shall he ordain you to die, then shall he give you
your life again, truly mankind is ungrateful (Quran 22:66)
The European council for Fatwa and Research stated It is forbidden to end deliberately or to
hasten the death of any person. Do not kill yourselves, for verily Allah has been to you
most merciful.
Everything that happens in life is a test. No one dies unless Allah permits it. Muhammad
(PBUH) said all forms of suicide are wrong.
Allah said fortify yourselves with patience and prayer. Allah is with those who are patient.
The sanctity of human life is a basic value as decreed by Allah even before the times of
Moses, Jesus and Mohammad. Commenting on the killing of Abel by his brother Caine (the
two sons of Adam), Allah says in the Quran: "On that account We ordained for the children
of Israel that if anyone slay a person -unless it be for murder or spreading mischief in the
land- it would be as if he slew the whole people. And if anyone saved a life, it would be as if
he saved the life of the whole people" (Qur'an 5:32).
The Shari'a (Islamic Law) listed and specified the indications for taking life (i.e. the
exceptions to the general rule of sanctity of human life), and they do not include mercy
killing or make allowance for it. Human life per se is a value to be respected unconditionally,
irrespective of other circumstances. The concept of a life not worthy of living does not exist
in Islam. Justification of taking life to escape suffering is not acceptable in Islam. Prophet
Mohammad taught: "There was a man in older times who had an infliction that taxed his
patience, so he took a knife, cut his wrist and bled to death. Upon this God said: My subject
hastened his end, I deny him paradise." During one of the military campaigns one of the
Muslims was killed and the companions of the prophet kept praising his gallantry and
efficiency in fighting, but, to their surprise, the Prophet commented, "His lot is hell."

From CLINICAL SITUATIONS:
In an Islamic setting the question of euthanasia usually does not arise, and if it does, it
is dismissed as religiously unlawful. The patient should receive every possible psychological
support and compassion from family and friends, including the patient's spiritual (religious)
resources. The doctor also participates in this, as well, and provides the therapeutic measures
for the relief of pain. A dilemma arises when the dose of the pain killer necessary to alleviate
pain approximates or overlaps with the lethal dose that might bring about the patient's death.
Ingenuity on the part of the doctor is called upon to avoid this situation, but from a religious
point of view the critical issue is the doctor's intention: is it to kill or to alleviate? Intention is
beyond verification by the law but according to Islam it cannot escape the ever watchful eye
of God Who according to the Qur'an "knows the treachery of the eyes, and all that hearts
conceal" (Quran 40:19).
There is always a cure to a disease then this leads to the question what are the limits to the
methods of treating disease. The general consensus amongst Islamic scholars is that treatment
procedures fall into 1 of 3 categories.
1. Illness where the cure is almost certain but failure to treat would lead to certain death. In
these cases treatment is mandatory.
2. Illnesses where the cure is the expected result.
3. Treatment in which the cure is a figment of the imagination or may entail hazardous
measures. Such diseases may be left alone.
These are based on examples when the prophet Muhammad PBUH expressed his discomfort
with people using cauterisation as a method of treatment. However there were occasions
when he performed it on other people as a last resort.
The prophet Muhammad PBUH said.
Seek treatment but do not use unlawful methods as Allah did not make them avenues of
cures for the Muslim community.
This shows that there are certain treatment types which are totally forbidden and not just
disliked. One of the implications of this is that alcohol is not allowed to be consumed even
for medicinal purposes
Euthanasia the sanctity of life is supreme in Islam and taking it unjustly is considered a grave
sin. In the Quran it says:
If someone kills another person unless it is in retaliation for someone else or for causing
corruption on the earth it is as if he had murdered all of mankind
Apart from prohibiting killing each other the Quran also prohibits Muslims from killing
themselves:
And do not kill yourselves. Allah is most merciful to you.
The prophet PBUH also sternly warned against suicide by saying:
"Amongst the nations before you there was a man who got a wound and growing impatient
(with its pain), he took a knife and cut his hand with it and the blood did not stop till he died.
Allah said, 'My Slave hurried to bring death upon himself so I have forbidden him (to enter)
Paradise
The prophet PBUH also said:
None of you should wish for death. If he is doing good, he might increase it and if he is
doing bad, he may repent.
This would indicate that the act of Euthanasia is forbidden because even wishing for death is
not allowed in Islam. So rather than wishing for death it is better for a person to bear with it
patiently as this I better for them.












Assignment
Euthanasia
Business Law
Submitted by: Qasim Ali 10022120-088
Saleem Younas 10022120-046
Abdul Rehman Mehboob 10022120-072
Syed Wasim Abbas 10022120-033
Imran Shoukat 12002120-388
Department Business Administration
BBA 6
th
AZ
Submitted to: Khawaja Mushfiq Haroon
University Of Gujrat
City Campus
2013