The increased interest in physician aid in dying/assisted suicide is one of the reasons for the growth in palliative care and hospice care.

The word euthanasia is combination of the Greek eu= good, and thanatos = death. Literally and etymologically it therefore means “good death”. Historically and scholarly, euthanasia in the strict- and in the Dutch context the only proper- sense refers to the situation in which a doctor kills a person who is suffering “unbearably” and “hopelessly” at the latter’s explicit request (usually by administering a lethal injection)… and euthanasia is in the Netherlands reserved for killing on request. In concrete terms, euthanasia invovles injecting the patient with two types of eubstances: barbiturates to induce coma, followed by neuromuscular blockers which cause respiratory muscle paralysis. The consequent anoxia and cardiac arrest bring on immediate death.

Continue reading “Euthanasia- Good Death vs Killing on Request (Reading & Sharing)” →