The Hippocratic Oath And Euthanasia - 2151 Words

Euthanasia was first introduced in ancient Greece and Rome around the fifth century B.C. Occasionally, abortions and mercy killings were performed. 1 The Hippocratic Oath is an oath taken by physicians, which states that the physician will treat the ill to the best of their ability, to preserve a patient’s privacy and to teach the secrets of medicine to the next generation. 2 Many of the physicians didn’t follow the Hippocratic Oath and if a patient asked to be poisoned, certain physicians would comply with the patient’s request. 1 Euthanasia wasn’t a topic of discussion in the Middle Ages and if someone committed suicide, the law in Europe was that the body had to be â€Å"dragged down the streets or nailed to a barrel and left to drift downriver† (procon.org). 1Euthanasia was a big topic of discussion during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries but people continued to turn down euthanasia and assisted suicide. 1 In 1828, the first American law made assisted suicide illegal. 1 It wasn’t until the 1930’s that people started to support euthanasia in the United States and in England. 1 Americans grew less fond of euthanasia around World War II when Hitler and the Nazis killed hundreds of thousands of people using euthanasia. 1Their tactics included starvation, gassing and administering drugs to their prisoners. 1 In the late twentieth and twenty first century, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia. 1Belgium soon followed theShow MoreRelatedEuthanasia And Assisted Suicide : A Patient s Choice1742 Words   |  7 Pages Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: A patient s choice in their type of death. When a patient is terminally ill or is experiencing extreme pain, often Euthanasia or Assisted Suicide can both be plausible options to end any suffering. Euthanasia is currently legalized in seven countries and parts of the United States (New Health Guide). This number is not likely to increase soon because of the high controversy, which is due to the very serious topic of this matter: a person s life. The generalRead MoreThe Case Against Euthanasia913 Words   |  4 Pages(Kirkey 2). Euthanasia is defined as assisting a terminally ill patient with dying early. In many countries the legalization of this practice is being debated in many countries. All doctors against assisted suicide, including the 44 percent in Canada, are on the right side of the argument. Euthanasia should not be legalized because it is unnatural, it violates the Hippocratic Oath, and laws are to extensive. Protecting life is the ethical view of society today, and legalizing euthanasia offsets thatRead MoreShould Euthanasia be Prohibited? Essay examples1553 Words   |  7 Pagesher to evade pain and enter a realm of eternal sleep. This action is called euthanasia. Euthanasia is defined as â€Å"a deliberate act undertaken by one person with the intention of ending a life of another to relieve that person’s suffering and where the act is the cause of death† (Gupta, Bhatnagar, and Mishra 1). Unfortunately, this type of situation is not far from reality. In fact, the first national survey on euthanasia, conducted in 1990, showed that 8,100 deaths resulted from administration ofRead MoreEuthanasia: The Solution Is a Bad Idea834 Words   |  3 PagesEuthanasia: The â€Å"Solution† is a Bad Idea Protecting life is the ethical view of society today, and legalizing euthanasia offsets that. Religious figures have recently welcomed the idea of getting God back into this debate. 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