2.5 - Euthanasia Flashcards
What is the Non Treatment Decision?
The decision medical professionals make to withhold or withdraw medical treatment of life support that is keeping a person alive because they are not going to get better, or because the person asks them to. Controversially it is also sometimes called passive euthanasia
What is Active euthanasia?
A deliberate action performed by a third party to kill a person, for example by lethal injection. Active euthanasia is illegal in the UK
What is the Sanctity of Life?
The idea that life is intrinsically sacred or has such worth that it is not considered within the power of a human being
What is the Quality of Life?
A way of weighing the extrinsic experience of life, that affects or justifies whether or not it is worth continuing life
What is Personhood?
The quality of human life that makes it worthy - usually linked to certain higher capacities
What is Autonomy and the Right to Die?
The idea that human freedom should extend to decide the time and manner of death
What is Voluntary Euthanasia?
This applies when a person’s life is ended painlessly by a third party at their own request
What is Non-Voluntary Euthanasia?
This applies when a person is unable to express their wish to die but there are reasonable grounds for ending their life painlessly, for example if a person cannot communicate but is in extreme pain
What is Dignity?
The worth or quality of life, which can be linked to sanctity or freedom
What is Palliative Care?
End-of-life care to make the person’s remaining moments of life as comfortable as possible
What is Involuntary Euthanasia?
Where a person is killed against their wishes, for example when disabled people were killed by Nazi doctors
