Word: euthanasias
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...EUTHANASIA--literally "good death"--involves either the direct mercy killing (active euthanasia) or the more common practice of withholding lifesaving drugs or treatment (passive euthanasia) from patients deemed to be in extreme suffering and without hope of recovery...
...questions raised by euthanasia, especially active euthanasia, are profound moral ones, and for the most part remain unanswered. One thing is for sure: To date most of the burden of decision remains in the hands of individual doctors. At this time there are no national or state guidelines to outline just how to handle cases which may involve some form of euthanasia, and few hospitals have advisory groups to help doctors resolve the ethical and legal problems they may face...
...physicians and legal experts with whom I talked said that they were opposed to any use of active euthanasia, and for the most part they reflected the mood of doctors and legislators throughout the country. Mercy killings involve the basic moral question of whether anyone ever has the right to take another person's life. And the possibilities for abuse or extreme extension of the right to put people out of their misery, either by individuals or governments, are far too obvious for people living only 30 years after Hitler to accept. While the courts have dealt more lightly with...
...PASSIVE EUTHANASIA is not considered murder by the U.S. legal system and in fact is practiced every day in hospitals all over the country. Usually it involves withholding drugs, treatments or heroic measures which, in the opinion of the doctor and the patient's family, merely prolong suffering and the patient's inevitable death...
...three main reasons cited by opponents of active euthanasia in Harris sampling were...