Euthanasia & Physician Assisting Suicide (PAS)

Euthanasia & Physician Assisting Suicide (PAS)
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Euthanasia & Physician Assisting Suicide (PAS)
Euthanasia
Euthanasia is medically defined as the intentional termination of life to relieve a patient from pain and suffering. Some healthcare service providers offer to end a patient’s life when the individual appears to suffer immensely from an incurable disease. The practice is mainly achieved by withholding certain interventions necessary to sustain life and allowing the patient to die.
Traditionally, the term has two definitions, either positive or active euthanasia and negative or passive euthanasia. The former includes intentional termination of life by taking action that culminates in the individual’s demise. On the contrary, negative euthanasia entails halting life-preserving measures and interventions that would help extend the life of a terminally ill patient.
Bio-ethically, euthanasia refers to an action or failure to take action that results in the death of an individual as a way of alleviating suffering. Certain religious practices, such as Catholic health care, may never accept any form of euthanasia in any way. Instead, these religions state that patients who request euthanasia should be given loving care, psychological and spiritual support to allow them to live with dignity to their natural death.
Pain and Suffering
Pain and suffering remain a mystery that will never be completely understood, especially from the religious perspective. However, the general perception of the pain and suffering experienced is that it is a form of temptation meant to strengthen the faith of the believers in God. Christians believe that suffering helps create intimacy with God. For example, in Job 42:5, Job endured immense pain and suffering, which ultimately improved his relationship with God. Christians also believe that suffering refines the individual experiencing it. It is compared to the manufacture of silver, which has to be passed through fire with extremely high temperatures. Therefore, Christians are also subjected to suffering to harden them and make them more refined.
Physician-Assisted Suicide/Death (PAS/PAD)
Physician-Assisted Suicide is another term referring to euthanasia and occurs when a health service provider terminates the life of a long-term illness patient. It is called physician-assisted because the process is initiated and managed by a physician, who either withholds specific life-sustaining measures or administers a medication that hastens the person's death.
The ethics of euthanasia are complex. Those who advocate for the practice believe that people should be allowed to die in dignity and without pain. Therefore, they should be allowed to decide when and how to end their life, and if they are unable to, other people should be allowed to help them do so. However, irrespective of the practice's support, it is unethical as it involves instigating someone's death. The practice is unethical both in religious and legal terms. In the religious perspective, life is a sacred gift from God, and so it is only God who is supposed to give and take it. There have been cases of people temporarily dying a...