- Non-voluntary euthanasia
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Severe hydrocephalus. Infants like this can be subject to non-voluntary euthanasia in the Netherlands if the parents and doctors decide it is the best choice for their child. In other jurisdictions, the doctors involved may be prosecuted.
Part of a series on Euthanasia Types Animal · Child · Voluntary
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Groningen Protocol
Euthanasia device
Euthanasia and the slippery slopeNon-voluntary euthanasia (sometimes known as mercy killing) is euthanasia conducted where the explicit consent of the individual concerned is unavailable. In the modern world, the term is usually applied to medical situations.[1]
Contents
Contrast with involuntary euthanasia
It may be contrasted with involuntary euthanasia, where euthanasia is performed against the will of the patient.[2][3]
Substituted judgment
The decision can be made based on what the incapacitated individual would have wanted, or it could be made on substituted judgment of what the decision maker would want were he or she in the incapacitated person's place, or finally, the decision could be made by the doctor by his own decision[4]
Legal status
Active non-voluntary euthanasia is illegal in all countries in the world, although it is practised in the Netherlands (see Groningen Protocol) under an agreement between physicians and district attorneys that was ratified by the Dutch National Association of Pediatricians.[5]
Passive non-voluntary euthanasia (withholding life support) is legal in India, Albania, and many parts of the United States and is practised in English hospitals.[6][7]
Arguing for legalization, Len Doyal, a professor of medical ethics and former member of the ethics committee of the British Medical Association, said in 2006 that "[p]roponents of voluntary euthanasia should support non-voluntary euthanasia under appropriate circumstances and with proper regulation".[8]
Arguing against legalization is activist Peter Saunders, campaign director for Care Not Killing, an alliance of Christian and disability groups, who called Doyal's proposals "the very worst form of medical paternalism whereby doctors can end the lives of patients after making a judgment that their lives are of no value and claim that they are simply acting in their patients' best interests".[9]
Slippery slope debate
Main article: Euthanasia and the slippery slopeNon-voluntary euthanasia is sometimes cited as one of the possible outcomes of the slippery slope argument, in which it is claimed that permitting voluntary euthanasia to occur will lead to the support and legalization of non-voluntary and involuntary euthanasia,[10] although several studies have contested this idea.[11][12][13]
References
- ^ [http://www.buzzle.com/articles/mercy-killing-facts.html Mercy Killing Facts
- ^ Perrett RW (October 1996). "Buddhism, euthanasia and the sanctity of life". J Med Ethics 22 (5): 309–13. doi:10.1136/jme.22.5.309. PMC 1377066. PMID 8910785. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1377066.
- ^ LaFollette, Hugh (2002). Ethics in practice: an anthology. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 25–26. ISBN 0-631-22834-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=o5peQpgSTTIC&pg=RA1-PA3-IA1.
- ^ Biggs, Hazel. Euthanasia: Death with Dignity and the Law. Hart Publishing. ISBN 1-84113-091-5.
- ^ "Ending the Life of a Newborn: The Groningen Protocol,: Introduction". www.medscape.com. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/569471. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
- ^ "India joins select nations in legalising "passive euthanasia"". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 7 March 2011. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1516973.ece.
- ^ http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/cgi/content/full/162/6/2029
- ^ "'Legalise euthanasia' says expert". BBC News Online. 8 June 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5056326.stm.
- ^ Boseley, Sarah (8 June 2006). "Call for no-consent euthanasia". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/jun/08/health.medicineandhealth1.
- ^ "Voluntary Euthanasia". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. March 29, 2010. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/euthanasia-voluntary/#Six. Retrieved June 13, 2010.
- ^ Lewis, P. (2007). "The empirical slippery slope from voluntary to non-voluntary euthanasia.". J Law Med Ethics 35 (1): 197-210. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.2007.00124.x. PMID 17341228.
- ^ Ryan, CJ. (Oct 1998). "Pulling up the runaway: the effect of new evidence on euthanasia's slippery slope.". J Med Ethics 24 (5): 341-4. PMID 9800591.
- ^ Manninen, BA. (Nov 2006). "A case for justified non-voluntary active euthanasia: exploring the ethics of the Groningen Protocol.". J Med Ethics 32 (11): 643-51. doi:10.1136/jme.2005.014845. PMID 17074822.
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