Document Type
Argument Essay
Publication Date
1988
Excerpt
The issue of euthanasia, the termination of medical treatment to incompetent patients, is more pressing today than it has ever been in the past. It confronts more physicians more often and involves more types of medical interventions. The increasing number of legal decisions and changes in medical care confuse physicians about which practices are acceptable and which are not. As a result, more and more patients, who have no hope for recovery, are forced to stay alive, dependent on life-support systems and nutritional support. These benefits of continued life are perceived by patients as insufficient to justify the burden and cost of care. Therefore, physicians are called upon to make difficult decisions according to their best medical and ethical judgment. Euthanasia is not murder when it is practiced under appropriate conditions and specific situations, and these circumstances should be defined more clearly by law so fewer physicians go through the court system.
Recommended Citation
Greenleaf, Heather, "Is Euthanasia a Crime? (1988)" (1988). The Valpo Core Reader. 457.
http://scholar.valpo.edu/core_reader/457