Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Palliative Medicine
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Di Mola, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Di Mola, G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Euthanasia: the word and the act in palliative medicine

Giorgio Di Mola

Fondazione Floriani, Via San Simpliciano 2, 20122 Milano, Italy

The word 'euthanasia' has been used with a variety of meanings, all of which refer to one precise action: the killing of a suffering person. A moral evaluation of such an act can lead us either to condemn it a priori, shutting the door upon any argument, or to allow further discussion. But the issue must be discussed, starting with an analysis of the meaning of the word and then examining both whether it is justifiable or not in palliative care, and whether it is acceptable within a general medical context. This paper supports the assumption that a correct and clear-cut analysis of the word euthanasia and of the act to which the word refers can be carried out only through a debate which separates the various levels of reasoning (medical, ethical, religious, political, legal) and keeps them distinct from one another.

Key Words: ethics • euthanasia • mercy killing • terminal care

Palliative Medicine, Vol. 7, No. 3, 187-192 (1993)
DOI: 10.1177/026921639300700304
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?