Euthanasia: active and passive forms

Euthanasia – One word that can divide a whole nation. Euthanasia is the Latin word for “good death” and refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relive pain and suffering. There are two kinds of euthanasia one being active and the other passive. Active euthanasia is the purposeful killing of a person by medical professional either by administering a lethal injection or by prohibiting necessary means of survival. Passive euthanasia is where a patient has medical care withheld. In each country there are different euthanasia laws. And I think that’s because the question is, is active and passive euthanasia to save a person’s life from suffering or is it to kill a person? In Denmark and in many other countries it is illegal to use the method of active euthanasia but passive euthanasia is legal. According to the Danish law it is illegal to kill another human being and therefore is active euthanasia also illegal. So if a dying or incurably ill patient wants to die a fast and worthy death with no pain, than the patient is not allowed. But if a person has a sick or old dog, he or she want to destroy than it is okay. Where is the meaning in that? Dogs can die with no pain but humans can’t. I would prefer the life of a dog than. Admiration if a family has a family member being on a respirator where there is no chance for the person ever to wake up again, wouldn’t it then be fairer to the family to let the person die? But on the other hand could active euthanasia also be misused by family members who do not wish to take care of a sick father or mother. And in some cases would the incurably ill or dying person maybe find oneself forced to receive active euthanasia while he or she would not cause any trouble to the family. And in worse cases doctors would give up patients more easily and just tell them: “Sorry we can’t cure you. Would you like to die now?” Active euthanasia also need somebody to execute the proceed which would be the doctors. You are then forcing a person who dedicates its life to save lives, to take a life. That’s kind of double standards. But as long as active euthanasia is legal in a country it would not be illegal for the doctor to a patient’s life. But if a person is assisting in helping a sick person commit suicide, it is considered as murder. And if a person commits mercy killing to take away a sick person’s pain, it is also considered as murder. So in the countries where active euthanasia is legal it is only the doctors who are allowed to take a person’s life to free him or her from pain and suffering. But it is not considered mercy killing when passive euthanasia is executed. The patient is not consuming any food, water or medicine that normally would keep the patient alive and nobody is doing anything. Isn’t that also some kind of murder, or at least some kind of assisting in murder when you are not doing anything to prevent the person form dying? It is a complicated world we are living in.