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As applied to the euthanasia debate, the slippery slope argument claims that the acceptance of certain practices, such as physician-assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia, will invariably lead to the acceptance or practice of concepts which are currently deemed unacceptable, such as non-voluntary or involuntary euthanasia. Thus, it is argued ...
Non-voluntary euthanasia is cited as one of the possible outcomes of the slippery slope argument against euthanasia, in which it is claimed that permitting voluntary euthanasia to occur will lead to the support and legalization of non-voluntary and involuntary euthanasia, [11] although other ethicists have contested this idea. [12] [13] [14]
According to euthanasia opponent Ezekiel Emanuel, proponents of euthanasia have presented four main arguments: a) that people have a right to self-determination, and thus should be allowed to choose their own fate; b) assisting a subject to die might be a better choice than requiring that they continue to suffer; c) the distinction between ...
Debates about the ethics of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide date from ancient Greece and Rome. After the development of ether, physicians began advocating the use of anesthetics to relieve the pain of death. In 1870, Samuel Williams first proposed using anesthetics and morphine to intentionally end a patient's life.
The Groningen Protocol sought to provide an ethical framework to allow for euthanasia of infants with severe medical diagnosis and prognosis. [15] Many believe that the protocol cannot be followed because the criteria of the protocol cannot be met by neonates, namely the quality-of-life and pain and suffering criteria.
The AMA is responsible for maintaining the Code of Ethics, which consists of two parts: the Principles of Medical Ethics and Opinions of the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. [65] The role of physicians in patient's right to die is debated within the medical community, however, the AMA provided an opinion statement on the matter.
The difficulty with the issue of non-treatment lies in the borderline with euthanasia, which is punishable by law in most countries. Euthanasia designates a practice (action or omission) whose aim is to intentionally bring about the death of a person, in principle suffering from an incurable disease which inflicts intolerable suffering, particularly by a doctor or under his or her control.
Medical ethics shares many principles with other branches of healthcare ethics, such as nursing ethics. A bioethicist assists the health care and research community in examining moral issues involved in our understanding of life and death, and resolving ethical dilemmas in medicine and science.