Statistics About Euthanasia

Here are some statistics I found on a website called “statisticbrain.com” The total percentage of medical practitioners that support Euthanasia is said to be 54%. The percent of the public who support euthanasia for terminally ill/on life support is 86%. While the average of terminally ill patients who die in pain is 55%. A doctor by the name of Jack Kevorkian served in prison for Physician Assisted Suicide was 8 years.



"Euthanasia Statistics." Statistic Brain. 23 Mar. 2012. Web. 03 May 2012.
             http://www.statisticbrain.com/euthanasia-statistics/.

The New "Dr. Death"

Dubbed the new “Dr. Death,” Dr. Lawrence Egbert, has admitted to killing nearly 300 people.  Although, he claims not to be the direct result, but rather an exit guide to quicken death to these patients.  His network known as the FEN, or Final Exit Network claims that people should have the rights to kill themselves “when their quality of life is personally unacceptable,” and should not be restricted in any way “by the law, clergy, medical profession, even friends and relatives no matter how well-intentioned.” This network’s preferred method leaves no traces behind leaving the thought that their actions don’t want to be known.



Baklinski, Thaddeus. "New 'Dr. Death' Admits to Assisting." LifeSiteNews.com. 14 July
            2011. Web. 02 May 2012.
            http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/new-dr-death-admits-to-assisting-the-deaths-of-300-in-us.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian

One of the most well-known doctors that supported assisted suicide, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was tried and tried for murder, but it wasn’t until he taped his lethally injected patient was he sent to prison. “Dr. Death” has killed over 130 people and yet was only convicted of the one murder. Some of the deaths were due to the person being chronically ill, disabled, terminally ill, but 4 of the suicides were, reportedly, of people who had no discernible organic illness.



"Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide- Jack Kevorkian." Jrank.org. Web. 02 May 2012.
            http://law.jrank.org/pages/1098/Euthanasia-Assisted-Suicide-Jack-Kevorkian.html.

Georgia "Right to Life"

In Georgia, the governor Nathan Deal has recently signed the Right to Life law making assisted suicide illegal. Georgia’s Right to Life’s president Dan Becker said, “Stopping the immoral and barbaric practice of killing in the name of compassion is the right thing to do.” The old law of Georgia was that assisted suicide was not to be advertised, but there was nothing that said it couldn’t be done.



"Georgia Right to Life." Christian Newswire – Up to the Minute Christian News. 01 May 2012.
            Web. 02 May 2012.
            http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/6852719569.html.

Euthanasia in New Zealand

In New Zealand the Euthanasia law is being challenged by two the citizens who believe that the law is outdated. This law was last debated in 2003 when woman help to kill her mother. The men who recently ignited the debate think that the politicians are weary to look into the topic. One of the men, Evans Mott awaits trial for helping the suicide of his wife, who suffered from multiple sclerosis. It’s researched that the couple had looked into different ways of suicide and eventually created a “death kit” which when the husband left the house the wife used to kill herself. In recent polls it was said that 70% agree that the law should change.



Sapa. "Two Men Charged with Helping Terminally Ill Relatives End Their Lives."
           IOL.com. 02 May 2012. Web. 02 May 2012.
           http://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/the-cases-of-two-men-charged-with-helping-terminally-ill-relatives-end-their-lives-has-sparked-a-fresh-debate-about-voluntary-euthanasia-in-new-zealand-1.1287255.

Euthanasia in New Hampshire

New Hampshire had worked on bill to legalize assisted suicide September of 2009 that was rejected in November of 2009. The bill had lost a significant amount of backing and was voted against 14-3 in the House of Judiciary Committee. But what was on the bill was that it would let terminally ill patients over the age of 18 obtain lethal prescriptions, with safeguards to prevent abuses.



Love, Norma. "Committee Rejects N.H. Assisted Suicide Bill." Boston.com. The New
          York Times, 11 Nov. 2009. Web. 02 May 2012.
           http://articles.boston.com/2009-11-11/news/29254599_1_suicide-bill-lethal-prescriptions-suicide-ballot.

What you Should do

Whether you support Euthanasia or not, there are things you can do to help your side on this controversial issue.  If you are against assisted suicide you can join protests as well as vote the people into legislation that would vote against the legalization of Euthanasia.  If you are for it you can join support groups and sign petitions as well as vote in legislature that would try to pass a law that would legalize Euthanasia.

Euthanasia on Animals

The practice of Euthanasia on Animals has been used for as long as records have been taken on the subject and is still a very common practice.  The main reasons for this practice are for terminal illness, extreme suffering, old age, and lack of homes.  More recently Euthanasia has been used on pets that are near death or are enduring severe suffering.  Also farmers use this practice on their animals very often.



Becker, Carl B. "Buddhist Views of Suicide and Euthanasia." Philosophy East and West
            40.4 (1990). JSTOR. Web. 02 May 2012.
            http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/1399357.

Euthanasia and Religion

Although certain religions have different views of assisted suicide, most religions are generally against the practice.  Some Buddhists support it because compassion is an important value in Buddhism whereas the major stand of Buddhists is that it is immoral to take part in actions that destroy human life.  The Catholic Religion forbids the practice of Euthanasia because they consider life as a gift from God and committing suicide is considered a sin and a crime against God.  The Majority of Protestant religions are against Euthanasia, but there are a few liberal denominations that do support it.  The Islam religion forbids all forms all suicide although they can refuse cures for terminal diseases.  Hinduism has similar views as that of Buddhism, they believe that it is a good deed to end someone’s suffering, but they also believe that it is a sin to help someone end their life.



Becker, Carl B. "Buddhist Views of Suicide and Euthanasia." Philosophy East and West
          40.4 (1990). JSTOR. Web. 02 May 2012.
          http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/1399357.

Euthanasia in Australia

In 1995 the Northern Territory of Australia passed the Rights of the Terminally Ill III Act which legalized the practice of Euthanasia.  This was the first time that a legislative assembly passes a law explicitly legalizing Euthanasia.  The first doctor to take part in legal, voluntary Euthanasia was Dr. Philip Nitschke.  The passing of this act caused quite a stir with both supporters and protesters.  In 1997 this act was nullified because the state of Australia, who had much less supporters than the Northern Territory, had the power to reverse it.



Becker, Carl B. "Buddhist Views of Suicide and Euthanasia." Philosophy East and West
          40.4 (1990). JSTOR. Web. 02 May 2012.
          http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/1399357.

Brief History of Euthanasia

It is believed that euthanasia started in ancient Greece and Rome around the fifth century B.C. They did this by abortions and every now and then performed a mercy killing. Even though doctors were supposed to follow the Hippocratic Oath, many did not and therefore would end up giving patients poison if they asked them to. During the Middle Ages, euthanasia was pretty much out of the question. If one committed suicide, the law in Europe was for the body to be “dragged through the streets or nailed to a barrel and left to drift downriver” (procon.org). During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries euthanasia was a topic of discussion. However, people continued to reject euthanasia and assisted suicide. It wasn’t until 1828, for the first American law to make assisted suicide illegal. Although America outlawed euthanasia and assisted suicide, some states were still trying to get a law passed at the state level. During the 1930s, euthanasia started to gain support in the US and societies who were in favor of it started to pop up not only in the US, but in England as well. However, World War Two would change euthanasia forever. Hitler and the Nazis killed hundreds of thousands of people using euthanasia. Hitler and company did this by gassing, drugs, and starving the people. This put a halt on the euthanasia movement as Americans grew less fond of euthanasia. A poll asked Americans in 1950 whether euthanasia was okay and “only 36 percent answered ‘yes’ approximately 10 percent less than in the late 1930s” (procon.org). The late 20^th and early 21^st century would be the time for euthanasia. The Netherlands would be the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia, and Belgium would legalize it soon after the Netherlands did. Australia did allow euthanasia for a brief time in the mid-90s as well. In 1998, Oregon would be the first US state to allow euthanasia and Washington and Montana would follow.



"Holocaust Timeline: Nazi Euthanasia." The History Place. Web. 01 May 2012.
           http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-euthanasia.htm.

"Euthanasia - ProCon.org." Euthanasia. Web. 01 May 2012.
           http://euthanasia.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000130.

Difference Between Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

By definition, euthanasia is the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, a person or animal suffering from an incurable, especially painful, disease or condition. What this really means is to kill someone on purpose to prevent them from suffering any longer. By definition, assisted suicide is a suicide facilitated by another person, especially a physician, who organizes the logistics of the suicide, as by providing the necessary quantities of a poison. In others words, a person who helps one commit suicide. They are different because with euthanasia, the doctor will carry out the patient’s death. For example, the doctor will physically inject the patient with the lethal substance. However, with assisted suicide, the patient will kill himself using the lethal injection which the doctor provided him or her. Therefore, with assisted suicide, the patient has complete control on when he or she dies whereas with euthanasia the doctor decides when the patient dies.



"Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide." Drexel.edu. Web. 01 May 2012.
          http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~cp28/euth1.htm.

"Euthanasia." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. Web. 01 May 2012.
          http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/euthanasia.

"Assisted Suicide." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. Web. 01 May 2012.
          http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/assisted suicide?s=t.

Euthanasia in the World

Although many websites have different countries listed as legalizing euthanasia, our group found that Belgium and the Netherlands came up quite frequently. Also, we found a couple of sources who mentioned Japan as one to allow euthanasia. However, for Belgium, two doctors have to be part of the process as well as a psychologist if the doctors feel that the patient does not fully understand, or have enough knowledge of what he or she is doing. In the Netherlands, not only do they allow euthanasia, but also allow assisted suicide and therefore the rules are a little more laid back. Japan is a little different between the previous two countries. Reason being is even though the Japanese are allowed euthanasia, they don’t really want it. Whereas people in many countries are arguing that they should be able to what they want with their lives and the law should not step in. The reason for this is because in Japan, suicide is often frowned upon because of the taboos they have. However, euthanasia does legally occur in rare circumstances. Lastly, Switzerland, although they do not allow euthanasia, Switzerland allows assisted suicide.



Humphry, Derek. "Assisted Suicide Laws Around the World." Assisted Suicide. 01 Mar. 2005. Web. 01 May 2012. http://www.assistedsuicide.org/suicide_laws.html

Euthanasia in the United States

There are currently three states in the United States that allow euthanasia. They are Oregon, Washington, and Montana. Although only three states currently allow Euthanasia, people should be aware that this topic is being talked more than you think. For the last twenty years, over 75 bills have been proposed to legalize euthanasia; which in some cases the bill was passed or, very close to being passed. In 1991, Washington declined the bill by 54% to 46%. However, in 2009 the bill would be passed. California was the same in 1992, but the euthanasia still remains illegal. Maine declined legalizing euthanasia by a very close margin of 51% to 49%. With these numbers being so close, one can assume that another state will legalize euthanasia. For example, as of right now New Hampshire is currently debating on whether they should legalize euthanasia.



Robinson, B.A. "Euthanasia & Physician AssistedSuicide (PAS).All Sides to the Issue."
          Religious Tolerance. 19 Nov. 2010. Web. 01 May 2012. 
          http://www.religioustolerance.org/euthanas.htm

The Golden Rule

If I don’t want someone to do something to me I wouldn’t do it to them. If I were to die from old age that is good, but if I was in extreme pain and I wanted to die by euthanasia I would want someone to do it to me as if I was asked to do it to someone else then I would. It is just a matter of personal choice.

Pros and Cons

The Pros of Euthanasia:

                It is a way to relieve someone of pain (extreme).  It can provide a way of relief when a person’s quality of life is low.

It is a person’s right to make their own decisions

It costs money to be alive so it would be cheaper on a family or the person who is paying the bills as well as allow for another person to receive the treatment that would otherwise be used on a person who doesn’t even want it.

The Cons of Euthanasia:

                It devalues human life

                Medical care people should not be involved in directly causing a death

                The path that euthanasia has taken to became legal for something’s and then others, who’s to say where it can be done and not done.


"Euthanasia Facts." Euthanasia.com. Web. 01 May 2012.
          http://www.euthanasia.com/page4.html

General Introduction

Euthanasia is the direct killing of a person, done usually by having a lethal substance injected into a person. If death is not intended, it is not considered an act of euthanasia. Because euthanasia is such a sensitive subject there have been many arguments about it over the years. 

What Euthanasia is Not

Euthanasia is not about many things. It is not for a physician to take the initiative to kill a patient. It is not about committing suicide, which is a legal act. It is not for people who are going through a depression or a difficult time in life and want a “way out.” It can not be administrated by a family member the choice has to be from the terminally ill patient. There are only a select few places in the world that empowers people to have control over their own bodies. According to Religious tolerance: “As of 2010, unless a person lives in Colombia, Japan, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Albania or Thailand, or in the U.S. states of Montana, Oregon, or Washington, the only lawful option is to remain alive, sometimes in intractable pain, until their body finally collapses.”



Robinson, B.A. "The Verbal Battle." Verbal Battles over Physician Assisted Suicide: All Sides.
           04 Sept. 2010. Web. 01 May 2012.
           http://www.religioustolerance.org/euth2.htm