________________
babies or patient quickly & painlessly why anyone should favour letting hydrate & infection wither tiny being & may not be given injenction that would end to life without suffering seems so patently cruel as to require no further refutation operation to remove an intestinal obstruction is not prohibitively difficult why such operation are not performed reason is doctor & parents judge that it is better for the child to die. If life of such an infant is worth preserving what does it mater if it needs a simple operation?
Matter of life here is decided on irrelevant ground & so doctrine must be rejected killing is worse then letting die doctors has no personal gain only concerned with patients & has only. & unanitarian ground. Two provisos 1. It is patient who at his own free will, will make an explicit & deliberate request for euthanasia. 2. Doctor must check the diagnosis. ' 3. Patient refusal of further life prolonging treatment. ::
The dying patient & his doctor are central figure in voluntary euthanasia but we must not forget the welfare of the surviving family the dignity of their relative's chosen death.
Decisions about medical treatment & the end of life are more complicated such decisions are now more frequent more difficult & widely debated then past.' Reason is advance in medicine & application of medical technology as a result patients live longer where in past would have died at earlier stage of their illness. Medicine has overcome many life threatening condition, more & more population are surviving longer & facing the chronic degeneration condition which old age may bring. The social implication. This are enormous. Since to care adequately for the resulting large no. of sick & elderly patient is difficult & costly. . For some too old age may entail a weariness of living & wish not to have life prolonged by medical means. Some people can't accept that their lives could continue to have meaning & value if overtaken by serious illness, disability & dependence.
Question is whether deliberate can ever be justified by will of person killed or by intention to be merciful?
When it is appropriate to discontinue or not to initiate medical treatment? To avoid misunderstanding we set terms & meaning attached euthanasia means nothing more then gentle & easy death or deliberate intervention undertaken with express intention of ending life to reduce intractable suffering.
Passive euthanasia the withdrawal or withholding of some treatment necessary for the continuance of killing letting die in certain circumstances
134
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
