ACTIVE euthanesia Essay. Life Sciences Assignment. (Essay Sample)

INTRODUCTION
Euthanasia is a Greek word that means good death (Lewy, 2011). Active Euthanasia is thus a type of Euthanasia which involves a person causing the death of another person directly because he or she believes that existence of the other person is so bad that he or she would rather be dead, or trusts that until he or she decides to ends his or her life, it will be so bad.
Euthanasia is of different dimensions which include; Active Euthanasia (that involves doing something that will result to demise); Passive Euthanasia (which involves stopping to support the patient for instance withholding treatment which will cause demise); Voluntary Euthanasia (which involves death with the consent of the person themselves) and Involuntary Euthanasia (which involve death with the consent from guardian). There is also Physician Assisted Euthanasia which involves a physician suggesting the medicine for the patient which is then administered by the third party to cause death) (Dowbiggin, 2003).
Requests for Active Euthanasia have contributed to the widely debated topic of whether Active Euthanasia should be practiced or not and if it should be practiced then which cases would be sufficient enough to warrant the use of Active Euthanasia. The debate cuts across dynamic and complex aspects such as, ethical, legal, economic, health, social and cultural, religious, spiritual and human rights aspects of the civilized society.
This act has seen some parties rejecting while others that considers the predicament of those that suffer and those who care for them support the act. For instance in the case of ACLU Amicus Brief in Vacco v. Quill (1996) held at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), it was held that; terminally ill person ill people have the right to avoid unbearable pain and accept a dignified and timely death and is covered under the concept of ordered liberty.