The Morality and Practicability of Euthanasia Essay

Morality and Practicality of EuthanasiaEuthanasia is defined by The American Heritage Dictionary as "the action of killing an individual for reasons considered to be merciful" (Leonesio 292). Here, killing is described as the physical action where one individual actively kills another. Euthanasia is tolerated in the medical field under certain circumstances when a patient is suffering profoundly and death is inevitable. The word "euthanasia" comes from the Greek eu, "good", and thanatos, "death," literally, "good death" however, the word "euthanasia" is much more difficult to define. Each person may define euthanasia differently. Who is to decide whether a death is good or not? It is generally taken today to mean that act which a health care professional carries out to help hisher patient achieve a good death. While growing up, each of us learns a large number of rules of conduct. Which rules we learn will depend on the kind of society we live in and the parents and the friends we have. Sometimes we learn a rule without understanding its point. In most cases this may work out, for the rule may be designed to cover ordinary circumstances, but when faced with unusual situations, we may be in trouble. This situation is the same with moral rules. Without understanding the rules, we may come to think of it as a mark of virtue that we will not consider making exceptions to. We need a way of understanding the morality against killing. The point is not to preserve every living thing possible, but to protect the interests of individuals to have the right of choice to die.Firstly, there are ethical guidelines for euthanasia. If the following guidelines are met, then euthanasia is considered acceptable. The person must be a mature adult. This is essential. The exact age will depend on the individual but the person should not be a minor who would come under quite different laws. Secondly, the person must have clearly made a...

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