Euthanaisa

This paper-letter to the President of India et al., is seeking the legalization of active voluntary euthanasia in India in the context of calamitous and cataclysmic socio-political-economic and environmental situation. This article shows, often sarcastically, that the religious extremist plutocratic regime has led to suicides, unhappiness, hunger, malnutrition, unemployment and so on. It also shows that the present government is following the blueprint of the Third Reich, especially in connection with the Aktion-T4 project. (License: CC BY 4.0)

Este trabalho tem o objetivo de analisar os elementos comuns às Audiências Públicas realizadas nos casos da Ação Direta de Inconstitucionalidade 3510 (ADI 3510 – caso das células-tronco) e da Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental 54 (ADPF 54 – caso interrupção da gravidez de feto anencefálico), com o intuito de averiguar como os argumentos desenvolvidos pelas entidades participantes se relacionam com o debate sobre a eutanásia. Os temas, além de figurarem no campo do Direito Constitucional e do Biodireito, estão interligados por remeterem a questões semelhantes: a proteção da dignidade da pessoa humana, o direito à vida e a autonomia individual. Do ponto de vista metodológico, o artigo fará uma análise comparativa e qualitativa dos argumentos desenvolvidos nas referidas ações constitucionais para, então, concluir que eles deverão variar muito pouco se o Supremo Tribunal Federal se deparar com a questão do direito à eutanásia e, para decidi-la, convocar a sociedade civil para expor seus pontos de vista sobre o tema numa audiência pública. Enfim, este é um trabalho sobre a vida e a morte e sobre as relações entre ambas. Mas é também um ensaio sobre a judicialização da vida e da morte e os argumentos levados à Suprema Corte brasileira quando ela se depara com tais questões.

Purpose: The study was conducted to examine and evaluate the views of the university hospital nurses about euthanasia. Method: This descriptive study included 325 nurses working at Fırat University Hospital. The research data was collected using a questionnaire form. Results: The mean age of nurses included in the study was 27.49+5.67, and 93.2% stated that they had information about euthanasia. 54.2% of the nurses reported that they would want the right to euthanasia for themselves, while 76.3% stated that they might ask for euthanasia for a relative or family member.  69.5% of the participants reported that they did not want euthanasia to be legalized, and 78.5% believed that it would be mainly (64.0%) abused by relatives for their inheritance if euthanasia were ever legalized, whereas 16.3% stated that euthanasia should be applied to the patients requesting euthanasia. It was also found that religious beliefs played a significant role on the views of 85.5% of the nurses. Conclusion: As a result of this study, we concluded that nurses generally have adequate information about euthanasia, while more than half of them did not want euthanasia to be implemented and legalized as they thought legalization would lead to a significant amount of abuse.

We present this article published in one of the issues of the New England Journal of Medicine, in its clinical decisions section. Here the authors present a case in which assisted suicide is suggested as possible option and two opinions are offered, one in favour and one against. In our opnion, the reasons given by each opinion, are sufficient to put clear the ethic point of vue of the matter.

Objective: To determine public attitudes toward the right to die, euthanasia and related end of-life decisions.
Design: Mail survey based on telephone numbers randomly selected by computer.
Setting: Edmonton.
Participants: Of 1347 computer-generated, randomly selected telephone numbers called between February and June 1992, 902 individuals were reached, and 500 eligible contacts
(55%) agreed to fill out the mailed questionnaire based on 12 vignettes involving end-of-life decisions. A total of 356 usable questionnaires (71%) were subsequently returned.
Main outcome measures: Attitudes toward end-of-life decisions including withdrawal of life support, euthanasia, chronic suffering and the right to die, living wills and family involvement
in decision making for incompetent individuals. Comments and demographic data were also solicited.
Results: Of the respondents 84% supported a family's right to withdraw life support from a patient in a persistent coma, and 90% supported a mentally competent patient's right to request
that life support be withdrawn. Active euthanasia was supported by 65% for only patients experiencing severe pain and terminal illness. There was marked opposition to euthanasia for patients in other circumstances, such as an elderly disabled person who feels he or she is a burden on relatives (opposed by 65%), a patient with chronic depression resistant to treatment (by 75%) or an elderly person no longer satisfied with life and who has various minor physical ailments (by 83%). In all, 63% of the respondents felt that legalization of euthanasia for terminal illnesses would lead to euthanasia for many other, unsupported reasons, and 34% supported legislation to prohibit euthanasia in all situations.
Conclusions: Public support for the right to die varies depending on the circumstances of the patient. The single most significant factor determining attitudes was the level of religious activity. The family's wishes were an important factor in end-of-life decisions for patients unable to communicate their desires. Both the general public and physicians should be primary
participants in determining legislation regarding the right to die.