Book Title: Jainism and World Problems
Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown

Previous | Next

Page 189
________________ SOME MISCONCEPTIONS In modern times also eminent men are not wanting who have advocated euthanasia, which in plain language means easy death. I am quoting from a review of a medical work which appeared in one of the leading journals of London recently : "Doctors not infrequently end their lives when suffering from painful diseases. "So says Sir Arbuthnot Lane, the physician, in a foreword to Dr. Killick Millard's "Euthanasia: A Plea for the Legalisation of Voluntary Euthanasia under Certain Conditions" (Daniel, 2s.). "Euthanasia is a medical term for 'easy death.' "Realising from experience how long they may be tortured and in agony,' Sir Arbuthnot continues, medical men sometimes telescope the duration of a life of pain and misery.' 181 "He claims that he has never met with disapproval when he has advocated euthanasia before a public audience. "Many, who have seen their relatives or friends enduring weeks or months of agony, expressed regret that the law did not permit the medical attendant to provide the sufferer with the means of terminating an existence which had become intolerable.' "Dr. Millard's book is a reprint of the Presidential Address he delivered in October to the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Its author is the Medical Officer for Leicester. "He advocates that individuals who have attained to years of discretion, and who are suffering from an incurable and fatal disease, which usually entails a slow and painful death, should be allowed by law-if they so desire—to substitute for the slow and painful death a quick and painless one.' "There is,' Dr. Millard argues, 'a fundamental distinction between legalised voluntary euthanasia and what is ordinarily understood by the term suicide."" Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240