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Euthanasia and assisted suicide are two processes designed to end the suffering of those in chronic pain by ending their life, or helping them do so. In this video I will provide you with a definition of both euthanasia and assisted suicide, showing you how they are similar and different. The biggest difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide concerns who takes the life of the person. With Euthanasia, the person’s death is caused by somebody else, whereas with assisted suicide, they are given all the necessary help to kill themselves but the final act is taken by them alone. However these definitions can be misleading, as they imply a world of difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide. By better understanding euthanasia we can see that they are actually very similar.
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Euthanasia is a process that has two distinct forms, the active and
passive form. Active euthanasia is when death is caused by an act, for example giving somebody an overdoes of painkillers. Passive euthanasia on the other hand refers to the omission of something, for example, turning off somebody’s life support, or denying them an operation qwhich would prolong their life. This form of euthanasia is legal in many more countries than active euthansia because it is often seen as letting somebody die naturally, as opposed to actively bringing about their death.
So what do these two forms of euthanasia tell us about assisted suicide. I would argue that they show us that Assisted suicide is more a form of euthanasia than a different process entirely. Why? Because for the person to be assisted in taking their own life, they have to be helped towards this goal. An example of this is Dignitas, a Swiss organisation that provides assisted sucide through a drink that contains an overdose of anesthetic. The provision of this drink by somebody else cannot register as passive euthanasia, because by giving it to somebody you are not letting them die naturally, you are actively helping them to kill themselves. However it is neither active euthansia, because under that scenario the person would be administered the drink, with assisted sucide, they drink it themselves. Thus, I would argue that assisted suicide is a different form of euthanasia, which contradeicts the idea that euthansia can purely be condensed into the active and passive forms. The fact that in many places where assisted suicide is legal such as belgium and switzerland it is referred to as ‘vouluntary euthanasia’, only helps to prove this.
The the fact that Assisted sucide and euthanasia are thus closely related underlines the importance of knowing their separate definitions. These different definitions are important, because if we get them wrong, we can end up conferring guilt onto people that are not responsible for the acts we suppose they are. The death of Noa Pothoven is a good example of this. She was a 17 year old Dutch girl who took her own life by refusing to eat or drink. A victim of rape, Pothoven’s death was reported in many news outlets as euthanasia, when it was in fact suicide.
So to conclude, euthanasia is when somebody’s death is brought about by somebody other than themself, either through an act, known as active euthanisa, or through withholding something that would extend their life, for example food, or life support. Assisted suicide, is a form of euthansia where somebody is helped to kill themselves, maybe through provision of lethal drugs, but the final act is undertaken by the person themselves. Thanks for watching, don’t forget to like share and subscribe.
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