scholarly journals Euthanasia and suicide: a medical and social discourse

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-112
Author(s):  
V. N. Ostapenko ◽  
I. V. Lantukh ◽  
A. P. Lantukh
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Adequate Quality ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Strong Explosion ◽  
The Right

Annotation. The problem of suicide and euthanasia has been particularly updated with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a strong explosion of suicide, because medicine was not ready for it, and the man was too weak in front of its pressure. The article considers the issue of euthanasia and suicide based on philosophical messages from the position of a doctor, which today goes beyond medicine and medical ethics and becomes one of the important aspects of society. Medicine has achieved success in the continuation of human life, but it is unable to ensure the quality of life of those who are forced to continue it. In these circumstances, the admission of suicide or euthanasia pursues the refusal of the subject to achieve an adequate quality of life; an end to suffering for those who find their lives unacceptable. The reasoning that banned suicide: no one should harm or destroy the basic virtues of human nature; deliberate suicide is an attempt to harm a person or destroy human life; no one should kill himself. The criterion may be that suicide should not take place when it is committed at the request of the subject when he devalues his own life. According to supporters of euthanasia, in the conditions of the progress of modern science, many come to the erroneous opinion that medicine can have total control over human life and death. But people have the right to determine the end of their lives while using the achievements of medicine, as well as the right to demand an extension of life with the help of the same medicine. They believe that in the era of a civilized state, the right to die with medical help should be as natural as the right to receive medical care. At the same time, the patient cannot demand death as a solution to the problem, even if all means of relieving him from suffering have been exhausted. In defense of his claims, he turns to the principle of beneficence. The task of medicine is to alleviate the suffering of the patient. But if physician-assisted suicide and active euthanasia become part of health care, theoretical and practical medicine will be deprived of advances in palliative and supportive therapies. Lack of adequate palliative care is a medical, ethical, psychological, and social problem that needs to be addressed before resorting to such radical methods as legalizing euthanasia.

The Beginning and Ending of Life

2019 ◽  
pp. 162-171
Author(s):  
John Keown
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Terminally Ill ◽  
Medical Law ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Life Sustaining Treatment ◽  
The Law

This chapter identifies several respects in which medical law in England and Wales suffers from a lack of ethical coherence in relation to its protection of human life. It argues that it is philosophically incoherent for the law to calibrate its protection of human life according to arbitrary stages of human development such as birth, viability, the fourteenth day after fertilization, and implantation. To the extent that the law permits life-sustaining treatment to be withheld or withdrawn from incompetent patients on the ground that their ‘quality of life’ is insufficient, and even with an intent to hasten death, it again displays ethical incoherence. If legislators or judges were to make it lawful for physicians to intentionally assist suicidal refusals of treatment, or to endorse a right to physician-assisted suicide for the ‘terminally ill’, the law's ethical incoherence would be seriously aggravated.

scholarly journals THE CONCEPT OF HAPPINESS IN BIOETHICAL RESEARCH (QUALITY OF LIFE CONCEPTION)

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-146
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Withdrawing Treatment ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Decent Life ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Right ◽  
Manifest Rationality

The topic of happiness is one of the oldest in philosophical researches. Now it is the subject of interest, in particular, for bioethicists, scientists who are looking for the principles of proper treatment of human life, health, and death. The concept of happiness acquires special significance in the quality of life bioethical conception. The author of the article outlines the origins of the understanding of happiness adopted by the supporters of this conception, as well as gives examples of its application by them (above all by P. Singer, L. Nordenfelt, and J. McMahan). The quality of life bioethical conception adopted utilitarian vision of happiness, developed mainly by J. Bentham and J. S. Mill. According to it, happiness is identified with benefit or pleasure, which can be measured and maximized. In the XX century utilitarians began to consider autonomy – the ability of a person to manage his or her own life and death – as an important element of happiness. The influence of the preference utilitarianism is also noticeable. In obedience to it they see happiness in the ability of person to realize his or her rational and autonomous desires. The medical conditions that does not allow it are interpreted as lack of happiness. Thus, they justify not only the admissibility of withdrawing treatment that doesn’t give the expected result, but also of euthanasia. Killing a person, in terms of the quality of life conception, may not be a lack of happiness if the other alternative is to continue living in conditions that do not allow a person to realize his or her preferences, or does not coincide with his or her ideas of a decent life. The lives of persons who do not manifest rationality and autonomy are interpreted as inhuman, as wrongful, and the person as deprived of the right to happiness. Critics of the quality of life conception point to the subjectivity of the criteria by which happiness is measured. The second reproach is the reference to the absence of a hierarchy of values. That is why they give pleasure and absence of suffering too much importance.

scholarly journals THE PRINCIPLE OF QUALITY OF LIFE VERSUS SANCTITY OF LIFE IN THE EUTHANASIA DEBATE: WHERE DOES ISLAMIC LAW STANDS?

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Omipidan Bashiru Adeniyi
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Terminal Illness ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Western World ◽  
Sanctity Of Life ◽  
World Today ◽  
The Right

The trend in most part of the western world today is the agitations for a person to have the right to take his own life, when such life, becomes unbearable due to pain, being the result of a severe or terminal illness. This is the position of proponents of the concept of euthanasia and assisted suicide. Opponents of the concept on the other hand are of the view that no matter the circumstances, a person should not take his own life because he has contributed nothing to its creation. They therefore uphold the sanctity of life as against its quality. This paper seeks to examine the relative arguments and will address the position of Islamic law governing the euthanasia debate.

Szasz, suicide, and medical ethics

Thomas Szasz ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 55-64
Author(s):  
George J. Annas
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Informed Consent ◽  
Suicide Prevention ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Right ◽  
Suicidal Patients ◽  
Commit Suicide

Szasz objected to the medicalization of suicide, the legalization of suicide prevention, and especially the coercive role of psychiatry in this realm. He declared that, by medicalizing suicide, we banish the subject from discussion. What is meant by acceptable and unacceptable “suicide”? Who has a right to commit suicide? How does suicide implicate freedom? Does it reflect abortion jurisprudence? How do psychiatrists become suicide’s gatekeepers? Current phenomena (e.g., new physician-assisted suicide legislation) illuminate these and other issues (e.g., euthanasia, informed consent, informed refusal, the “right to die,”), all suggesting how Szasz would react to each. Suicide is legal, but is almost always considered a result of mental illness. Courts approve psychiatrists who want to commit “suicidal” patients involuntarily. Granting physicians prospective legal immunity for prescribing lethal drugs is, at best, a strange and tangential reaction to our inability to discuss suicide (and dying) rationally. Szasz got it right.

Right to Life in the American Medical System

1996 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 1151-1161
Author(s):  
Denis Cavanagh
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Terminal Illness ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Hippocratic Oath ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Legalize Abortion ◽  
The Right ◽  
Supreme Court Rulings ◽  
The Impact

The article deals with the impact of the so called “culture of death” on medical practice in United States (US). In fact, in America, while the pretence is being kept up on the importance of the Hippocratic oath and the evangelic benevolence of the Good Samaritan, the strategy of the secular humanists is to try to make these irrelevant in the twin interests of social convenience and fiscal security. This campaign has been quietly waged in the media, in the courts, in public schools and universities. According this strategy, the threats to human life are, namely, two: abortion and euthanasia. On the first issue, in US the situation is discouraging because the US Supreme Court rulings Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton in 1973, that have made abortion a woman’s choice for any reason in the first and second trimester and available with medical consultation for almost any reason in the third trimester of pregnancy. Regarding the euthanasia, the campaign strategy is following the same pattern as that used to legalize abortion: the Euthanasia Lobby is claiming that millions of people in America are suffering unbearable pain because of terminal illness and so ought to have the right to end their pain with physician- assisted suicide. On the contrary, the author assert that there is no right to destroy any human life or participate in its destruction and there is no good moral reason for abortion or euthanasia, including the physician-assisted suicide. Finally, the author think that it is vital that Catholic activists, allied with Christian church-going brethren, should resist with all the power they can muster to the “culture of death”.

scholarly journals Spiritual needs of dying and emergency health care

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 03001 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Andrasi
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Length Of Service ◽  
Psychological Burden ◽  
Dying Patients ◽  
Daily Contact ◽  
Adequate Quality ◽  
Leave Taking

Dying process can take different forms, and each death is related to leave-taking of a human with what he liked, with those whom he loved and who were close to him. Daily contact with the dying is very difficult, very demanding not only in physicalterms, but especially in terms of psychological burden. The essence of care for dying patients is to ensure adequate quality of life that is highly affected by understanding of human existence and the meaning of human life. Paramedics must realize that quality of life is associated with satisfying the needs that in each patient is different, so the quality of life is a very individual concept. Coping with dying is significantly affected by the ability of their very faith in God's existence, length of service and communication skills.

scholarly journals Built environment and water: Toward a better quality of life

2021 ◽  
Vol 881 (1) ◽  
pp. 012038
Author(s):  
S F Rizky ◽  
M H A Edytia ◽  
A Zahrah
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Psychological Effects ◽  
Direct Access ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
The Right

Abstract Covid-19 pandemic reminds us repeatedly of the need to keep clean such as washing hands. This shows that the presence of water in the midst of human activities is important. This article examines what if the element of water is presented naturally in the between human activities: its psychological effects and design. The study was conducted by raising and describing the conditions of settlements in Indonesia which are still in direct contact with the water element and the benefits provided by its existence. Furthermore, the right design to make these water facilities actually have a better impact on the quality of human life will be studied by giving examples of related and similar facilities. These facilities are considered adequate supported by visitor opinions and scientific approach in supporting the prevention of Covid-19 transmission through physical distancing. Studies show that facilities that provide direct access for visitors in contact with water have a better impact and are more attractive to visitors in addition to other existing features.

Physician-Assisted Suicide in Context: Constitutional, Regulatory, and Professional Challenges

1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-182
Author(s):  
Bernard Lo ◽  
Karen H. Rothenberg ◽  
Michael Vasko
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Colon Cancer ◽  
Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Experimental Chemotherapy ◽  
Blood Samples ◽  
Intravascular Coagulation ◽  
Professional Challenges

Last month, a fifty-eight-year old man developed bleeding into his cheek and oozing from sites where previously he had had blood samples drawn. This bleeding was caused by disseminated intravascular coagulation, a complication of colon cancer that had spread to his liver and lungs. This complication occurred even though he was on chemotherapy for the cancer. In the hospital, he received transfusions and was administered medicine to stop the bleeding. However, his condition did not improve. He developed more bruises. When he tried to go to the bathroom without assistance, he fell, struck his head, requiring stitches, and developed a black, swollen eye. The patient, a successful businessman, had already overcome another type of cancer—lymphoma—through chemotherapy, twenty-five years ago. In a few days, this dynamic individual who expected to start experimental chemotherapy now saw his quality of life deteriorate steadily.We talked about more chemotherapy, about hospice, and about withholding attempts at resuscitation if his heart should stop.

COLOUR & LIGHT DESIGN: AMBIENCE AS AN ANSWER TO THE PROBLEMS OF A HEALTHY COLLECTIVE HOUSING.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Caumon ◽  
G. Zissis ◽  
C. Caumon ◽  
E. Bécheras ◽  
C. Infantes
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Collective Housing ◽  
The Right ◽  
Analysis Protocol

For several months now, the global pandemic that we are experiencing has highlighted that the quality of the habitat has a proven impact on our quality of life. In this context, it becomes fundamental to take into account the needs of each individual. The aim of this study is to show the benefits of designing the right atmosphere for the place and the needs of all inhabitants. Designing the ambience of a space leads us to anticipate the environment that will influence the subject who lives there. The design of the colour and light atmosphere contributes to improving the quality of life by ensuring a certain comfort in their daily activities. Through a case study, we will present an analysis protocol to examine a visual environment. The data collected will allow designers to move towards a more sensitive and adapted design of lighting and colour applied to collective housing.

Management of Economics and State "Bottom"

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 76-91
Author(s):  
E. D. Solozhentsev
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Probabilistic Models ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Special Software ◽  
Human Quality ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The scientific problem of economics “Managing the quality of human life” is formulated on the basis of artificial intelligence, algebra of logic and logical-probabilistic calculus. Managing the quality of human life is represented by managing the processes of his treatment, training and decision making. Events in these processes and the corresponding logical variables relate to the behavior of a person, other persons and infrastructure. The processes of the quality of human life are modeled, analyzed and managed with the participation of the person himself. Scenarios and structural, logical and probabilistic models of managing the quality of human life are given. Special software for quality management is described. The relationship of human quality of life and the digital economy is examined. We consider the role of public opinion in the management of the “bottom” based on the synthesis of many studies on the management of the economics and the state. The bottom management is also feedback from the top management.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document