The recent story with Almaty resident Galina Bochkareva, who insists on euthanasia because she considers herself a burden for her relatives, once again made me think: whether euthanasia should be allowed in Kazakhstan. And what should those who die from excruciating pain do, but are forced to endure them because no one in their homeland has the right to help them voluntarily die. Meanwhile, a terrible term has already taken root in the world - “suicide tourism”.
What is euthanasia?
Euthanasia is the artificial, painless termination of the life of a terminally ill person at his request, in order to save him from severe unbearable suffering.
You can understand what euthanasia means if you look at word formation. The word “euthanasia”, borrowed from Western European languages, is formed by combining two Greek words – “death” and “good”. Putting these two words together, we get “a good death.”
A painless, easy death at the request of the patient during euthanasia occurs with a deliberate action or inaction that ends a person’s life. In its literal sense, euthanasia is used out of pity, with the goal of putting an end to the “inhuman” suffering of one’s neighbor.
Among the people who died from euthanasia, there are many famous names. The famous Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud committed euthanasia in 1939 after several dozen operations to remove an incurable oral tumor. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1974), Belgian scientist Christian de Duve died at the age of 96 as a result of euthanasia. According to the scientist, he was not very worried about what would happen to his soul after death, because during his lifetime he was an atheist.
Statistics
The UN and WHO do not provide global reports on the development of assisted death. However, statistics from individual countries show a sad demand for such a service. In the Netherlands and Belgium, the annual increase in euthanasia performed has been 5% since 2008. Statistics Switzerland published data for the period 1998 to 2009. In 1998, 43 deaths were registered, in 2009 there were already 300 deaths from euthanasia. In Zurich, 300 foreigners receive this kind of “charity service” every year, and this figure is growing.
Every year the number of people over the age of 80 who have resorted to an “easy death” is decreasing. The number of cancer patients under the age of 40 who have resorted to euthanasia is steadily growing. Such indicators are associated with an increase in cases of malignant tumors and the lack of a cure. According to data from Switzerland, 44% of cases of “legal suicide” are cancer patients, 25% are diseases of the cardiovascular system and central nervous system, and another 3% are depression.
What types of euthanasia are used in modern medicine?
Let's consider the types of euthanasia, their characteristics and features.
40 percent of all euthanasia is the result of a joint decision between the doctor and the patient to end life - with the help of drugs or by refusing treatment. Theoretically, there are two types of euthanasia - passive and active.
Active euthanasia
✔️ Active euthanasia is when a sick or dying person is given a medical drug in a dose that causes painless and rapid death. Active euthanasia is called the filled syringe method.
✔️ Active euthanasia can, in fact, be suicide under the supervision of a doctor, where the doctor acts as an assistant, or “merciful killing”, when the doctor, seeing how a person is suffering, injects him with an increased dose of painkiller. With active euthanasia, the doctor must obtain permission from relatives or the patient himself. Active euthanasia can also include suicide, when a patient commits suicide alone.
Passive euthanasia
✔️ Passive euthanasia is when medical care is stopped for a terminally ill person, which leads to an early natural death. This type of euthanasia is called the delayed syringe method.
There are also voluntary and involuntary euthanasia.
✔️ Voluntary euthanasia - carried out at the request of a sick, capable person. As an example, in the USA there is a practice when the patient signs a legal agreement in advance in the event of an irreversible situation (coma). Involuntary euthanasia is carried out without the consent of the patient (if he is unconscious), the decision is made by his relatives based on the consideration of alleviating a serious condition.
History of euthanasia
► The concept of euthanasia was introduced into scientific circles by an English philosopher and historian of the 16th-17th centuries. Francis Bacon. The entire scientific activity of the medieval scientist was based on popularizing the idea that science gives man power over nature. Francis Bacon wrote that it is a medical duty to alleviate the suffering of a patient when there is no hope of salvation, just as it is to restore health if there is hope of recovery.
► People have been using euthanasia since ancient times; the history of its origin goes back to the times of paganism, when among northern warriors it was considered a shame to end one’s days as a bedridden patient. There were practices when weak old people threw themselves down from a cliff. In ancient Sparta, children who were in poor health were killed... The Japanese took sick old people to die on a mountain, the name of which literally means “mountain for abandoning old people.” The ancient Eskimos had a custom when the sick and infirm left their homes and died in the cold tundra. Thus, people not only escaped pain and suffering, but also saved food for their community.
► But if many pagan communities encouraged the intentional death of sick and elderly members, then in the times of Ancient Greece only a government body sanctioned death; independent death was severely punished. Roman law prohibited suicide, while leaving justifiable reasons for voluntary death - grief, sorrow, illness.
► The ancient Greek physician and philosopher Hippocrates was categorically against the artificial killing of a patient. The oath in his name, which defines the ethics of behavior and the moral character of a doctor, includes words about the impossibility of helping and pointing out the path to the “death plan” of a sick person.
► After the foundations of modern religions were consolidated, the ban on all forms of suicide and euthanasia spread throughout the world. The basic religious tenet was that life is sacred and inviolable. Neither the doctor nor the patient dare to encroach on it.
► The Nazis actively resorted to euthanasia to exterminate “inferior” people during the Second World War. The seriously wounded, the disabled, people with mental illness, and representatives of sexual minorities were subjected to forced death.
► In 1987, the World Medical Assembly was held in Madrid, where they adopted the “Declaration on Euthanasia”. The Declaration called euthanasia “unethical,” and at the same time affirmed the need to treat the patient with respect and “not interfere” with the natural process of dying in the terminal phase of the disease.
► The history of the development of euthanasia is associated with the name of the American doctor Jack Kevorkian. They call him Doctor Death. In the mid-20th century, a doctor proposed using anesthesia for criminals sentenced to death to ease their suffering. Decades later, Doctor Death included an element of blackmail in the offer - administering anesthesia in exchange for allowing capital prisoners to use their organs after death.
Jack Kevorkian, photo: https://news.umich.edu
Since 1989, an American doctor put euthanasia on stream: a special device injected a strong dose of toxic and anesthetic devices into the body of terminally ill people. This went on for ten years, until one case of euthanasia was recognized as an act of murder, then Doctor Death was sentenced to a long prison term. However, after eight years, the doctor was released for exemplary behavior, but with a lifelong ban on communicating with any terminally ill or physically disabled person.
The figure of Dr. Kevorkian causes conflicting opinions. The creators of films and cartoons turn to his personality.
The Russian poet Vadim Filatov dedicated a poem to the American, which he called “Doctor Love”, it contains the following lines: “... Doctor Love - Jack Kevorkian, He took the spirit out of those who wanted. And now - Who will help you leave?..."
Which countries allow euthanasia?
In the modern world, euthanasia as a legal assisted death is legally possible in a number of countries.
