Euthanasia

VII. Read the text and name the types of euthanasia.

IV. Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right. Use them in sentences of your own.

A B

III. Match the words with similar meaning in A and B.

II. Translate the following derivatives and fill in the blank with the proper ones. Learn them and use in the sentences of your own.

I. Practice the reading of the following words.

TEXT IX

XI. Make a brief summary of the text

Euthanasia

Euthanasia, incurable, lethal, physician, abhorrent, unconscious, controversy, overwhelmingly, Christianity, Judaism, Islam.

a) To violate – violation – violator.

1. This country is notorious for gross … of human rights. 2. She felt that her privacy had been ….3. They are proved to be …. of public order. 4. He was in open … of the treaty. 5. All terrorist organizations … international law.

b) Mercy – merciful – mercifully – merciless.

1. God have … on his soul. 2. He is reported to be a … killer. 3. They showed no … to their captives. 4. He was in despair because the critics were … towards his last play.5. The play was very bad, but … it was also short.

c) To legalize – legalization – legal.

1. Should euthanasia be made …? 2. The 1973 ruling … abortion. 3. What’s the legal position on this? 4. He drank more than the … limit of alcohol for driving. 5. Attempts for … of marijuana caused a public outcry.

d) To refer – reference.

1. Try to avoid making any … to his illness. 2. The book is full of … to places I know. 3. This paragraph … to the events of last year. 3. There is a list of … at the end of each chapter. 4. When I said some people are stupid, I wasn’t … to you.

intentional	supporter
advance	to ban
reason	cause
to prohibit	deliberate
request	to have
to possess	Petition
proponent	progress

1) physician	a) the scientific study of the properties of matter and energy, eg heat, light, sound, gravity, and the relationships between them
2) physicist	b) an expert in physics
3) physics	c) a doctor, esp one specializing in areas of treatment other than surgery

V. Learn the following words:

To apply – применить, применять; lack – недостаток, отсутствие, нужда; to bring about – вызывать, осуществлять, to condemn – осуждать, порицать; to restrict – ограничивать; to contribute – способствовать, содействовать; misuse – неправильно обращаться, злоупотреблять; burdensome – обременительный, тягостный.

VI. Translate the following word-combinations:

Incurable disease, intolerable suffering, undignified death, an artificial respirator, severe birth defects, restrictions on euthanasia, a life- sustaining treatment, severely brain- damaged.

Euthanasia is practice of mercifully ending a person’s life in order to release the person from an incurable disease, intolerable suffering, or undignified death. The word euthanasia derives from the Greek for “good death” and originally referred to intentional mercy killing. When medical advances made prolonging the lives of dying or comatose patients possible, the term euthanasia was also applied to a lack of action to prevent death.

Active euthanasia involves painlessly putting individuals to death for merciful reasons, as when a doctor administers a lethal dose of medication to a patient. Passive euthanasia involves not doing something to prevent death, as when doctors refrain from using an artificial respirator to keep alive a terminally ill patient.

In voluntary euthanasia, a person asks to die (by either active or passive euthanasia). Nonvoluntary euthanasia refers to ending the life of a person who is not mentally competent to make an informed request to die, such as a comatose patient.

Euthanasia differs from assisted suicide, in which a patient voluntarily brings about his or her own death with the assistance of another person, typically a physician. In this case, the act is a suicide (intentional self-inflicted death), because the patient actually causes his or her own death.

Euthanasia has been accepted in some forms by various groups or societies throughout history. In ancient Greece and Rome helping others die or putting them to death was considered permissible in some situations. For example, in the Greek city of Sparta newborns with severe birth defects were put to death. Voluntary euthanasia for the elderly was an approved custom in several ancient societies. However, as Christianity developed and grew powerful in the West, euthanasia became morally and ethically abhorrent and was viewed as a violation of God’s gift of life. Today most branches of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam condemn active euthanasia, although some permit restricted forms of passive euthanasia.

Following traditional religious principles, Western laws have generally treated the act of assisting someone in dying as a form of punishable homicide (unlawful killing). However, in modern times laws have become more secular. Those who wish to legalize euthanasia have argued that, under principles of individual liberty (such as those expressed in the Constitution of the United States), individuals have a legal right to die as they choose. Most countries (including the United States), however, have not fully adopted this position and retain restrictions on euthanasia.

The first organizations to promote the legalization of voluntary euthanasia in the United States and Great Britain formed in the 1930s.

Laws in the United States and Canada maintain the distinction between passive and active euthanasia. While active euthanasia is prohibited, courts in both countries have ruled that physicians should not be legally punished if they withhold or withdraw a life-sustaining treatment at the request of a patient or the patient’s authorized representative. These decisions are based on increasing acceptance of the doctrine that patients possess a right to refuse treatment.

Until the late 1970s, whether or not patients possessed a legal right of refusal was highly disputed. One factor that may have contributed to growing acceptance of this right is the ability to keep individuals alive for long periods of time—even when they are permanently unconscious or severely brain-damaged. Proponents of legalized euthanasia believe that prolonging life through the use of modern technological advances, such as respirators and kidney machines, may cause unwarranted suffering to the patient and the family. As technology has advanced, the legal rights of the patient to forgo such technological intervention have expanded.

The controversy over active euthanasia remains intense, in part because of opposition from religious groups and many members of the legal and medical professions. Opponents of voluntary active euthanasia emphasize that health-care providers have professional obligations that prohibit killing. These opponents maintain that active euthanasia is inconsistent with the roles of nursing, caregiving, and healing. Opponents also argue that permitting physicians to engage in active euthanasia creates intolerable risks of abuse and misuse of the power over life and death. They acknowledge that particular instances of active euthanasia may sometimes be morally justified. However, opponents argue that sanctioning the practice of killing would, on balance, cause more harm than benefit.

Supporters of voluntary active euthanasia maintain that, in certain cases, relief from suffering (rather than preserving life) should be the primary objective of health-care providers. They argue that society is obligated to acknowledge the rights of patients and to respect the decisions of those who elect euthanasia. Supporters of active euthanasia contend that since society has acknowledged a patient’s right to passive euthanasia (for example, by legally recognizing refusal of life-sustaining treatment), active euthanasia should similarly be permitted. When arguing on behalf of legalizing active euthanasia, proponents emphasize circumstances in which a condition has become overwhelmingly burdensome for a patient, pain management for the patient is inadequate, and only a physician seems capable of bringing relief. They also point out that almost any individual freedom involves some risk of abuse and argue that such risks can be kept to a minimum by using proper legal safeguards.

VIII. Correct the following statements:

1. Euthanasia is a painful practice of ending a person’s life in order to release the person from an incurable disease.

2. Active euthanasia involves not doing something to prevent death.

3. Euthanasia has never been accepted by society.

4. Euthanasia was condemned in ancient Greece.

5. Today most branches of Christianity, Judaism and Islam accept active euthanasia.

6. According to American and Canadian laws there is no difference between active and passive euthanasia

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