Mercy Killing Research Articles

Moral Reasoning about Ending Life Revisited: Influences of Religiosity and Resilience

ABSTRACT This study examined religiosity, resilience, and age across generation as predictors of moral reasoning and judgments about certain ending of life situations: suicide, physician-assisted suicide (PAS), active euthanasia (AE), and mercy killing (MK). Data was collected from undergraduate students attending a conservative Christian university in the Midwest as well as from an online community forum (N= 153). This study is a replication and expansion of a previous study.1 Measures included the questionnaire developed for Anstee's study, as well as the Christian Religious Internalization Scale, Response to Stressful Experiences Scale, and a demographic questionnaire. Linear regression analysis found identified (autonomous) religiosity as a predictor of moral reasoning and judgments, to the extent that ending of life scenarios are morally wrong. Resilience was found to be a predictor of moral judgments to the extent that MK is morally right. These findings suggest that the internalization of beliefs plays a considerable role in moral reasoning and judgments about ending of life issues. Understanding the role of mechanisms behind moral reasoning on ending of life issues is increasingly relevant as legislation is currently changing.

Terminal phase of malignant disease: Life or death?

Objective: The study of this research is that the within focus group define pharmacy student's attitude about the quality of life of patients in the terminal stage malignancies. This would indicate the difficulties these patients in the treatment process, their views on life, the advantages and disadvantages of conventional chemotherapy, but also the impact of the environment on the process of healing. The work aims to highlight the essential help of other health professionals in the care of these patients, their affinities to other treatment modalities, and mercy killing. Method: The study was designed as a qualitative research, because it is designed for participants to express their views, feelings and beliefs about this topic. The method chosen for the study was ''the method of focus groups'' and during the pursuance of the same recorded audio record focus groups, and the names of the participants remained anonymous in order to preserve the privacy. Results: During the implementation of the study came to the conclusion that students on patients who have terminal stage malignancies have different views on life and death. For some respondents death is completely unacceptable, and to justify the same state various motives. For others, the struggle for life is a basic principle that should these patients should be maintained until the end.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ASSESSING PROS AND CONS “DEATH WITH DIGNITY”

Whether it is called “dignified”, “proud” or “privileged death”, “voluntary killing”, killing at request”, “assisted suicide”, “mercy killing” or ”pity killing”… euthanasia’s legal, ethical and actual aspects have been the subject of discussions for centuries. The name of our topic, consisting of just two words, mercy killing, which are at first sight so contradictory (mutually exclusive), speaks for itself. In this paper the author underlines that, due to its increasing application, euthanasia has become unavoidable subject of criminal considerations and social interest. It draws the attention with its controversy, complexity, versatile forms of execution and possibilities for abuse. Through a prism of different theoretical streams and studies and reviews of its application in practice, the author at the very beginning of this paper presents the following view. Reviewing contemporary trends in the fled of legal regulation of euthanasia, comparative legislations meander through chaotic paths of mutually connected and confronted stands which can easily turn into a pure façade, that is into an illusion of ideal solutions. This is, unfortunately, the existing general frame within which we can seek answers to some of the questions that this topic raises.

Steinbeck Today

Steinbeck Today

Mercy killing in neurology: The beginnings of neurology on screen (II).

The history of Neurocinema includes neuroethics, and this theme was first used in 2 films released in the 1940s in both Germany and the United States. Ich Klage An (I Accuse) is about "terminal" multiple sclerosis in a young woman and the decision to determine one's own fate. The protagonist anticipates becoming "deaf, blind, and idiotic" and asks her husband to administer a toxic drug dose, which he does. The film disturbingly suggests that the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis is tantamount to a death sentence. Ich Klage An (1941) played during the medical murders era ("Aktion T-4" program) but has few references to National Socialism, except for judges with Nazi emblems on their robes making a brief Nazi salute and a jury chamber with a bust of Hitler. Party leadership agreed that the film made a deep impression, but the intended effect on the viewing public is largely unknown. An Act of Murder (1948) involves another young woman with an inoperable brain tumor. When her condition worsens during a trip, her husband deliberately crashes the car, killing her but surviving himself. A subsequent trial finds that she died of an overdose rather than the crash. The trial judge dismisses the murder charge, but the film argues the morals of mercy killing. These films came out during the Nazi euthanasia program and founding of the Euthanasia Society of America in 1938. The choice of neurologic disease by these filmmakers and scriptwriters to defend euthanasia is remarkable.

Homicide–Suicide in China: an Exploratory Study of Characteristics and Types

This study explores 63 homicide–suicide cases that include two or more homicide victims, in the People’s Republic of China. This is the first study to examine homicide–suicide in the Chinese context, following calls to develop a research strategy outside of the USA and Europe. Data are derived from a content analysis of Chinese news sources from 2000 to 2014. Findings show homicide–suicide offenders are likely to be married males living in rural cities who kill their intimate partners and/or children inside a residence using knives. Intimate partner conflict and extramarital affairs are precipitating factors in almost half of the incidents. Patterns of homicide–suicide in China are comparable to those in high-income countries, except that firearms are not the primary means in China and there is no evidence of “mercy killing” among older persons, as described in western homicide–suicide studies. Findings are related to the social and economic structure of Chinese society. Clinical and policy implications include the need for greater transparency and a nationwide homicide and suicide tracking system in China, stricter domestic violence laws, postmortem studies of the brains of homicide–suicide offenders, and psychological autopsies on homicide–suicide perpetrators.

SETHE'S MERCY KILLING IN MORRISON'S 'BELOVED'

The aim of this research study is to describe the causes of Sethe’s doing Mercy Killing. The objects of the study are words, phrases, clauses and sentences taken from the novel. The data are collected by the process of recording in cards and tables. The instrument of the research is the researcher herself. The method used in this research study is qualitative method in which the reliability and validity is acquired by expert judgment. The findings of the study show that Sethe’s doing Mercy Killing are caused by the disharmony problems of the id, ego and superego in Sethe’s personality. This study reveals that finally Sethe’s superego controls her personality which leads her to kill her baby. Sethe’s mercy killing happens because she was an exslave woman, she was an African American woman, Sethe wished her daughter in a better place than her, and she hoped her daughter who had been killed by her getting a freedom forever.

End of Life Issues in Cancer Cases: Ethical Aspects.

This article investigates ethical challenges cancer patients face in the end stages of life including doctors' responsibilities, patients' rights, unexpected desires of patients and their relatives, futile treatments, and communication with patients in end stages of life. These patients are taken care of through palliative rather than curative measures. In many cases, patients in the last days of life ask their physician to terminate their illness via euthanasia which has many ethical considerations. Proponents of such mercy killing (euthanasia) believe that if the patient desires, the physician must end the life, while opponents of this issue, consider it as an act of murder incompatible with the spirit of medical sciences. The related arguments presented in this paper and other ethical issues these patients face and possible solutions for dealing with them have been proposed. It should be mentioned that this paper is more human rational and empirical and the views of the legislator are not included, though in many cases human intellectual and empirical comments are compatible with those of the legislator.

Love and Resurrection: Remaking Life and Death in Contemporary Russia

ABSTRACTIn this article, I discuss two “crimes of compassion”—one a mercy killing and the other what I refer to as a “mercy resurrection”—as key illustrations of the changing landscape of necropolitical governmentality in Russia some 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Such practices present unanticipated challenges to the state control of death, producing irregular yet ultimately normative narratives of what counts as pathological, as life and death, and as the meaning of suffering, love, and compassion. I argue that these cases ultimately present two sides of the same coin, evincing a politics of life that, intentionally or not, defies the power of the state over death and its monopoly position as the purveyor of death and immortality. They also suggest alternative practices of caregiving to the dead and dying. In doing all this, they enter a legally ambiguous zone between violence and compassion, martyrdom and savagery, madness and mercy.

Autism = death: The social and medical impact of a catastrophic medical model of autistic spectrum disorders

This discussion interrogates the continuing impact of the pervasive and persistent usage of debilitating metaphors perpetuating ‘historical’ superstitions, myths and beliefs surrounding disability. This article examines the real-life consequences of the power exercised through the deployment of derogatory metaphors and their very real effects on care and treatment decisions. The article illuminates how diagnostic categories and their associative metaphors work to situate boundaries of normality with pathologising difference. It concludes by demonstrating the catastrophic effect of the metaphoric dehumanisation of autistics that has recently culminated in murder being euphemistically referred to and condoned as ‘mercy killing’.

Mercy Killing

A defendant who has committed a so called ‘mercy killing’, meaning that they killed a loved one to end their suffering from some kind of painful or terminal illness or disease, has no direct route to a manslaughter conviction. It is a difficult situation for the courts, although such actions are acknowledged as a mitigating feature at the sentencing stage. This article discusses the controversial subject, and questions if it may be included within the scope of either diminished responsibility or loss of control since the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 came into force.

'Mercy killing': when is it justified, and what is the nurse's ethical responsibility?

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Attitude of doctors toward euthanasia in Delhi, India

Abstract Introduction: Deliberation over euthanasia has been enduring for an extended period of time. On one end, there are populaces talking for the sacrosanctity of life and on the other end, there are those, who promote individual independence. All over the world professionals from different areas have already spent mammoth period over the subject. A large number of cases around the world have explored the boundaries of current legal distinctions, drawn between legitimate and nonlegitimate instances of ending the life. The term euthanasia was derived from the Greek words “eu” and “thanatos” which means “good death” or “easy death.” It is also known as mercy killing. Euthanasia literally means putting a person to painless death especially in case of incurable suffering or when life becomes purposeless as a result of mental or physical handicap. Objective: To study the attitude of doctors toward euthanasia in Delhi. Methodology: It was a questionnaire based descriptive cross-sectional study carried out between July 2014 and December 2014. The study population included Doctors from 28 hospitals in Delhi both public and private. Equal numbers of doctors from four specialties were included in this study (50 oncologists, 50 hematologists, 50 psychiatrists, and 50 intensivists). Demographic questionnaire, as well as the Euthanasia Attitude Scale (EAS), a 30 items Likert-scale questionnaire developed by (Holloway, Hayslip and Murdock, 1995) was used to measure attitude toward Euthanasia. The scale uses both positively (16 items) and negatively (14 items) worded statements to control the effect of acquiescence. The scale also has four response categories, namely “definitely agree,” “agree,” “disagree,” and “definitely disagree.” The total score for the EAS was generated by adding all the sub-scales (question's responses). The demographic questionnaire and EAS, a 30 items Likert-scale questionnaire developed by (Holloway, Hayslip and Murdock, 1995) was distributed among the study population to assess the clarity and adequacy of the questions. Reliability and content validity of the questionnaire were established. Reliability was calculated by “Cronbach Alpha” and the value computed was 0.839 the pilot study was conducted in a subset of 30 persons from the same study universe. Data were analyzed using Stata 11.2 and all the P < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Association of categorical variables among the groups was compared by using Chi-square/Fisher's exact test. Student's t-test was used to compare mean values in the two independent groups, and one-way ANOVA was used for more than two groups. A total of 200 questionnaires were returned out of 400, giving a response rate of 50%. Analysis and Results: Our study provided the evidence that all doctors who responded to the questionnaire knew term euthanasia. This could be due to the fact that these professionals are in close association with issues pertaining to euthanasia in their day to day work. No significant difference seen in the attitude of doctors of different age group toward euthanasia, although younger doctors endorse robustly for euthanasia. This may be because younger doctors are open for addressing these debatable issues proactively. We found no association between gender and attitude toward euthanasia in our study. Conclusion: It is evident from our study that oncologists, hematologists, psychiatrist, and intensivists do not support active euthanasia at all. There is a strong voice in support of voluntary passive euthanasia among psychiatrists and intensivists in our study. However, oncologists and hematologists are not in favor of passive euthanasia.

Legalizing Euthanasia: If You Love Them, Let Them Go

The legalization of euthanasia or “mercy killing” to end suffering painlessly, has been one of the favourite topics for heated discussions in many countries around the word especially in India. Many terminally-ill patients do not have a possibility to recover, but the strict and stringent laws do not allow doctors to help them in ending their lives. In this paper, I will argue why euthanasia should be legalized in India and the other parts of the World.

Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things: Disability in <em>Game of Thrones</em>

Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things: Disability in <em>Game of Thrones</em>

RIGHT TO DIE: THE CORNERSTONE OF A DIGNIFIED SOCIETY

On 25 October 1999 I tried to kill my mother. It would have been a mercy killing. Like many Australian families, we had discussed the issue at length: “If I lose control of my faculties, put me down like a dog”. But when Mum was in agony, dying from pancreatic cancer, the law was against us. Nurses and doctors refused to help for fear of litigation; palliation was ineffective. In this article, I explore the successful models of voluntary euthanasia around the world, and why Tasmania is Australia’s best hope. I counter the assertion by legal scholar and philosopher Professor John Finnis that ‘prohibition of intentional killing is the cornerstone of a civil, safe and functional society’ and instead argue that our current legal framework will prove increasingly inadequate with our ageing population. Fundamentally, the right to die is our greatest human right. It must be respected.

An Ethical and Judicial Framework for Mercy Killing on the Battlefield

As a follow-up to Stephen Deakin's analysis on the ethics of mercy killing on the battlefield in this journal, this article proposes a moral justification for this type of action, as well as a judicial framework that could clarify what qualifies as such morally permissible action. Based upon contemporary cases, it argues that the current military codes of conduct are incoherent when it comes to the punishment of soldiers who commit mercy killings, and that the military codes of justice should be amended accordingly.

Passive euthanasia and living will

This article deals with the intentional distinction between murder of first degree and passive euthanasia. In Hungary, active euthanasia is considered to be a murder of first degree, whilst the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and Switzerland have legalized the active form of mercy killing in Europe. The palliative terminal care, when e.g. giving pain-killer morphine to the patient, might result in decreasing the patient's life-span, and thus causing indirect euthanasia. However, the legal institution of living will exists in several counter-euthanasia countries. The living will allows future patients to express their decision in advance to refuse a life-sustaining treatment, e.g. in case of irreversible coma. The institution of living will exists in Germany and in Hungary too. Nevertheless, the formal criteria of living will make it hardly applicable. The patient ought to express his/her will before a notary public in advance, and he/she should hand it over when being hospitalized. If the patient is not able to present his/her living will to his/her doctor in the hospital, then his/her only hope remains that he/she has given a copy of the living will to the family doctor previously, and the family doctor will notify the hospital.

Zabójstwo eutanatyczne – tendencje liberalizacyjne w Europie na przykładzie Belgii

The act of euthanasia is a highly controversial issue, both from legal point of view and a perspective of human morality. In today’s Europe, only a few countries, this including the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium have legally regulated this issue of euthanasia officially deeming it as an acceptable practice that is consistent with the law. Furthermore, the parties involved in this action are subjected to no criminal consequences. Recently, a tendency can be observed in Europe to liberalize euthanasia legal regulations. This is particularly apparent in case of Belgium, where the act concerning expansion of subjects that can legally decide to participate in mercy killing is being discussed. The project posits that minors and people suffering from dementia should be given the aforementioned right. This raises multiple questions, for instance – Can a person with impaired judgment capability be able to decide about their life? Where do the borders of parental responsibility lie? How far can they interfere with a minor’s decision to die? It ought to be marked however, that although the liberalization trends discussed in this paper appear in quite a few European countries, it does not necessarily mean that in the near future it will be possible to introduce a common European legislation concerning the issue of euthanasia, which could be legally-binding in all UE members’ legal systems.

Euthanasia in Iranian Criminal System

Mercy killing, euthanasia or killing a person who is terminally ill is not an allowable murder and all kinds of direct killings are in a sense of willful murder. Indirect mercy killing is considered as assisted suicide. According to Iranian criminal system, mercy killing is not allowable because human is a creature superior to an animal and will experience the result of their acts in the eternal world. A lot of efforts are done in many countries for the legalization of euthanasia or mercy killing.