Euthanasia case studies Euthanasia case studies Euthanasia means

Euthanasia case studies

Euthanasia case studies Euthanasia (εὐθανασία) means ‘a gentle and easy death’. It comes from the Greek words εὐ (eu, ‘good’) and θάνατ-ος (thanatos, ‘death’).

Euthanasia case studies Where euthanasia is legal Countries and states where assisted suicide is legal include Albania, Belgium, Estonia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland the US states of Montana, Oregon and Washington. In 2015 it was made legal in the Canadian province of Quebec. At the Dignitas clinic in Zürich, Switzerland, deadly drugs can be prescribed to a Swiss person or to a foreigner and the recipient takes an active role in the drug administration.

Euthanasia case studies Diane Pretty suffered from motor neurone disease, which can lead to a slow and painful death. She wanted her husband to help her commit suicide and took her case to court, as it was against British law. She felt that she had lost most of her human dignity and no longer had a quality of life. Diane lost her case, and died of natural causes in 2002.

Euthanasia case studies Tony Nicklinson was paralysed after a stroke in 2005 and developed locked-in syndrome. He fought a legal battle for the right to die but this was turned down by the High Court in 2012. After this he stopped eating, developed pneumonia and died in August 2012.

Euthanasia case studies Chantal Sébire was a school teacher in France who had an incurable tumour in her brain. In February 2008 Chantal Sebire’s euthanasia plea was rejected. She suffered from a rare cancer (esthesioneuroblastoma) that left her disfigured. She said that she would find another way of dying. Two days after the court denied her plea to allow her to have an assisted suicide, Chantal was found dead. She committed suicide because she could not face her life any more.

Euthanasia case studies Anthony David (Tony) Bland When he was 18, Tony Bland went to Hillsborough to watch his football team Liverpool play Nottingham Forest. This was 15 April 1989, the day of the Hillsborough disaster. Thousands of extra Liverpool fans were let into the ground to avoid problems outside and 94 people were killed in the resulting crush. Tony Bland suffered severe brain damage and was in a coma for almost 4 years. In November 1992 a legal court ruled that doctors could withdraw treatment at the request of his family as there was no reasonable chance of him coming out of (persistent vegetative state). He was allowed to die on 3 March 1993, aged 22.

Euthanasia case studies Daniel James In March 2007, Daniel James, a former under-16 England international, was playing rugby when a scrum collapsed on him and he broke his neck. Following the incident his mother explained that ‘he couldn't walk, had no hand function, and had constant pain in his fingers. He was incontinent, suffered uncontrollable spasms in his legs and upper body, and needed 24 -hour care’. On 12 September 2008, aged 23, he travelled to Switzerland with his parents and killed himself by lethal injection at the Dignitas clinic. His parents supported his decision: ‘Daniel continually expressed his wish to die and was determined to achieve this. He was not prepared to live a second-class existence…his death was, no doubt, a welcome relief from the prison his body had become and the day-to-day fear and loathing of his living existence. ’