Research Paper on:
Euthanasia and Personal Issues

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
surrounded by numerous controversies and dilemmas. Indeed, euthanasia is without a doubt one of the most controversial topics of our time. It is not a new controversy, however.  Philosophers have argued for centuries over the moral and ethical appropriateness of euthanasia. Contemporary philosophers, in fact, are just rehashing the same issues which occupied the more ancient  philosophers of the world. From a personal perspective, euthanasia should be a viable option for terminating ones own life. The issues at stake in euthanasia are, in fact,  inextricably intertwined with a persons right to self determination. There are two types of euthanasia. In passive euthanasia the patient  is removed from hospital equipment such as resuscitators or feeding tubes which are believed to be sustaining their life. In contrast, in the more controversial active euthanasia the  patient is administered a drug such as morphine in sufficient quantity to cause their death. While there is still heated debate over active euthanasia or what has been come  to be referred to as mercy killing or physician-assisted suicide, some contend that there is not enough justification to deny a terminally ill patient passive euthanasia. Physicians and nurses  often object to actively participating in active euthanasia on the basis of their professional codes which explicitly prohibit the taking of life (Curtin, 1995). These same professionals recognize the  ethical significance of such decisions and actions (Vergara, 1995). Passive euthanasia, allowing the patient to die by suspending a medical treatment  or withdrawing a medical treatment, has become to be more accepted to the general public and the medical community than has active euthanasia, however. While this development has been