Julie HelmEnglish 103/7November 2, 2000Euthanasia Euthanasia has become a controversial subject. It is a Greek word, that means easy death, broken down into origins EU means “good” and Thanatos means death. Therefore, this word also means good death. Euthanasia's definition is the intentional termination of life by another at the explicit request of the person who dies. This implies that the act must be initiated by the person who wishes to commit suicide. (Euthanasia)There are two kinds of euthanasia, Passive and Active, there are clear distinctions between both of them. Passive euthanasia is withdrawal of life support. This type has been specifically upheld by the courts as a legal right act for a doctor to perform. A few examples of passive euthanasia is removal of life support, stopping medical procedures or medication and stopping food and water and allowing the person to dehydrate or starve to death. The two most common types of passive euthanasia are when CPR is not delivered or morphine is not given to control pain. This procedure is also done on persons in persistent vegetative state, these are individuals with massive brain damage who are in a coma from which they cannot possibly regain consciousness. (Euthanasia)Euthanasia makes some people make very hard decisions. Passive Euthanasia is something that I support. I believe that people should not have to live on a machine. When people lie there in a vegetarian state on life support. They are truly dead. God has the power to let people live and die, but this power is seemed to be overcome by technology. A person cannot die if they are being supported by a machine.This causes people to make major decisions and have much conflict between families. The reasons for these conflicts are because family members are not allowed to decide if their relation wants to die. The legislation passed the Natural Death Act, which allows for living wills, an advance directive to a re...
