Euthanasia

Euthanasia, assisted death, abortion, and the right to die are discussed in Chapter 9, Death, Society, and Human Experience. Kastenbaum explores these topics like no other person! I know I have used these terms in many conversations; however, I cannot remember ever looking up the literal translation or the specific definition. It may have been my parents or older brothers that explained their own meaning of such words to me when I was a child. Let’s take euthanasia for example. The literal translation of the term euthanasia would be good or happy (eu) death (thanasia) (275). Many people do not think of “good” when speaking about euthanasia. It is more accurate to think about the original meaning of euthanasia as dying without suffering or pain. Today, the term retains something of its original meaning: a peaceful, painless exit from life. However, it also has taken on another definition: the intentional foreshortening of a person’s life to spare that person from further suffering (275).
Here are two main forms of euthanasia to think about: active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia relates to actions that are intended to end the life of a patient (or animal) who is suffering and really has no chance of recovering. An example of active euthanasia is a lethal injection to a patient. Passive euthanasia, on the other hand, applies when intentional withholding of a treatment is done and that treatment may have prolonged the patients life. Not placing a person on life-support after a trauma would be one example of passive euthanasia.
The information found here is just amazing. This chapter discusses issues that we face everyday but we do not really know all that much about. For instance, the role of a nurse in euthanasia or assisted death. Most nurses are not given the attention that they deserve in such cases. Think about a family who confides their true feelings about their loved one in a hospital bed quite openly with a nurse. It is the physician, not the nurse, who takes on the medical decision-making responsibilities for patients. Remember, it was the nurse and not the physician who heard the families’ true wishes regarding this patient. It seems obvious that the nurse may spend more time with the family, but does the physician really know what the nurse was told? This scenario may have happened to someone in your family and you did not even know it. This example made me think about my experiences in the hospital setting. I, too, have spoken openly with nurses but found myself limited in conversation when the physician enters the room. The physician would come in, speak about my family member, flip through the paperwork making a few notes, and then leaving to see the patient in the next room. It is all too familiar for me. I feel like I have found a new approach for the next time.