EUTHANASIA

Sara Tabares, Jaime Pardo.

Introduction:

According to the real Spanish academy the word euthanasia comes from the Greek

(efthanasia), which translates "good to die".

Euthanasia (the process of dying with dignity in your own terms) is one of the most used

procedures in our current society to end the life of patients with end-stage terminal diseases,

one of the goals of this procedure is to end the suffering of these patients and prevent any

further worthless pain, also it seeks to avoid the physical and psychological inconveniences

of the disease.

History:

euthanasia has been practiced and debated since ancient times. In the times of ancient Greece

there were no moral facts about euthanasia, since a bad life was not worth living. However,

Hippocrates opposed such practice and forced doctors to stop using active euthanasia and

suicide aid. Already by the middle ages euthanasia was seen as sin. This because at this time,

Christianity began to spread. For the time of modernity one begins to think that the Christian

perspective is not the only one, so that the natural sciences and medicine become very

important. In 1623 the philosopher Francis Bacon was the first to return to the subject of

euthanasia and differentiated it in exterior and interior. For the 19th century, approaches such

as Darwinism and eugenics arise, where biological laws are used for the improvement of the

race. Already in the twentieth century several societies enact the legalization of euthanasia,

including doctors, lawyers, philosophers and theologians. After this, for the first world war,

the slaughter of the crippled and sick by the Nazis was sustained. Today, we understand that
the way in which euthanasia is seen in individuals depends on several factors, including

culture, religion, personal experiences, etc.

Countries where euthanasia is legal: Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and four

states of the United States, Colombia, the only Latin American country that approved

euthanasia.

Types of euthanasia.

There are two types of euthanasia:

1. The first type of euthanasia is the direct one that comes to define the process of

advancing the death of a person who has an incurable disease. This type of

euthanasia can be divided into two classes: active, which basically achieves the

death of the aforesaid patient through the use of drugs that are lethal; and the

passive one, which is the one that consists in the attainment of the death of the

one by means of the suspension both of the medical treatment that he had and of

his feeding by any means.

2. The second type of euthanasia is the indirect call that what it does is try to

alleviate the pain and suffering of the person in question and for this a series of

medications are supplied that as a consequence can cause the death of the

aforementioned person.

Substances or medications used for euthanasia:

In most cases barbiturates are used. They can use secobarbitals, which is a drug that

depresses brain activity, inhibits the action of the nervous system and the respiratory center.

Or also pentobarbital, which is a drug in the form of acid or salt.

Definitions:

“The descent intentionally caused by acts or omissions that are intended to end a life of an

individual or sick"

“The right of a person to decide his manner and moment of death"

Role of the physician in euthanasia:

Nowadays the role of the physician is kind of controversial because in some countries this

procedure is not legal, however, in the countries where it is already legalized the physicians

have to identify the patients that can benefit from this procedure, they also cannot impose any

barriers, they have to give support to the patient and their family during the whole process

and after it, give information whenever it is requested and facilitate the ways to fulfill the will

of the patient.

Euthanasia indications:

- Adults with end-stage terminal diseases

- Adults with refractory, resistant to treatment psychological diseases

- Children with orphan diseases.

Euthanasia for children:

in Colombia, following the call of the Constitutional Court, the Ministry of Health prepared

a draft resolution that regulates the procedure to make effective the right to die with dignity
of children and adolescents with a disease or condition in terminal phase. They can not

request the euthanasia procedure "newborns and neonates; people in early childhood or from

6 to 12 years, with some exceptions.

Ethical dilemma:

Euthanasia has been managed by two philosophical currents, made up of men of science and

religion based on the beliefs and knowledge that until then their peers, as social beings, have

developed invoking human dignity, both to defend it and to reject it. For its defenders, the

human dignity of the sick person consists of the right to freely choose the moment of death.

For its detractors, human dignity is to oppose this right, considering it a human arbitrariness

against an exclusively divine issue for some and exclusively scientific-legal for others.

Our regulation is a pioneer in Latin America in terms of euthanasia, since it is regulated in the

constitution as a right of the population which finds limitations only from the medical side,

since it must go through a series of medical tests which comply with the permission to be

able to perform assisted death

We must start by showing how assisted death not only occurs in the elderly, but also how it

leads us to see a possibility to provide the necessary help to the youngest. For this reason, it is

shown how in our socio-cultural context it contains the norms that not only limit the eutonacy

in children, but also made them more applicable.

At all times, says the draft resolution, the child must be accompanied by a specialist doctor,

an expert lawyer and a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist.

The document, known as 'Your world today', by Claudia Palacios in Citytv, establishes, in

this sense, that between the ages of 12 and 14 the will of the minor must be taken into

account to carry out the procedure, but the parental consent. And that between 14 and 17

years, the will of the patient will prevail and it will only be necessary to inform those who

have parental authority.

The holders of parental authority or those who have custody may not substitute the consent of

the child or adolescent if the latter did not express his will at the time.

On the other hand, it is established that they can not request the euthanasia procedure

"newborns and neonates; people in early childhood or from 6 to 12 years, with some

exceptions; who present altered states of consciousness, cognitive and intellectual disabilities

or diagnosed psychiatric disorders that alter the competence to understand, reason and issue

reflective judgment ".