Active euthanasia involves a doctor taking an active role in ending a patient’s life, while passive euthanasia involves withholding treatment. Active euthanasia is controversial and only legal in a few places. Euthanasia is typically performed by a medical professional and can be seen as a good or deserved death, but some view it as assisted homicide or suicide.
Active euthanasia is a form of euthanasia in which a doctor takes an active role in ensuring that a patient dies. This is typically in contrast to passive euthanasia where a doctor simply withholds treatment to ensure a patient’s death. Active euthanasia is typically more controversial than passive euthanasia and is only legal in a handful of countries or regions within some countries.
The word “euthanasia” comes from the Greek words eu, a prefix meaning “good” or “well”, and thanatos, meaning “death”. As such, euthanasia is typically translated literally as “good death” and has been used throughout history to offer a person what has been seen, across various cultures and time periods, as a good or deserved death. In modern usage, it may continue to have this meaning for some people, while others see euthanasia as a form of assisted homicide or suicide. While most forms of euthanasia can be controversial in certain situations, active euthanasia is often more so than passive types.
Euthanasia, in general, is generally viewed as an act that must be performed by a doctor or similar medical professional. Active euthanasia typically involves direct action by a physician to ensure a patient’s death. There are several ways this can be done, although the most common is typically an increase and overdose of medications used to reduce pain. Using this type of method, active euthanasia usually results in no pain for a person and simply shuts down the person’s physiological system while they sleep.
Active euthanasia is often highly controversial due to the fact that a doctor or other medical professional must actively engage in ending a patient’s life. This is typically done for a patient who repeatedly requests the end of his or her life. Most doctors who practice active euthanasia will only perform it on someone who is suffering from an illness that has significantly reduced their quality of life and who has no predictable treatment.
Passive euthanasia is quite common and typically involves a doctor withholding medications or treatments that allow a person to continue living. In some cases this may include not providing any more nutrition or fluids to an unconscious patient, or through methods such as “do not resuscitate” orders and turning off life support systems. Active euthanasia, on the other hand, is much less common and as of 2010 was only legal in a few places, such as the Netherlands and the states of Oregon and Washington in the United States.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
