Skip to main content Skip to Search Box
Definition: Euthanasia from The SAGE Glossary of the Social and Behavioral Sciences

Medically assisted death (often referred to as assisted suicide). Euthanasia is among the most controversial of practices and is currently illegal in most countries. Often described as intentional killing for the benefit of the patient, euthanasia can be achieved by an act (providing lethal drugs) or omission (failing to provide life-sustaining treatment).

Euthanasia

From Science and Politics: An A-to-Z Guide to Issues and Controversies
Euthanasia, which literally means “good death,” is defined as intentionally taking one's life to relieve pain and suffering. There are two broad categories of euthanasia: passive and active. Passive euthanasia deals with a patient's right to withhold medical treatment, including nourishment and life-sustaining devices, with the intent of ending one's life. Active euthanasia is the liberty to take one's life when terminally ill and frequently is associated with doctor-assisted suicide. Euthanasia has a long and storied history dating back to ancient Greece and Rome. The term was first used by the historian Suetonius in relation to the Emperor Augustus dying quickly and without suffering in the arms of his wife, Livia. The Greek physician Hippocrates, the father of medicine, has spoken against the use of euthanasia. The Judeo-Christian tradition has expressly rejected the notion of euthanasia. Thomas Aquinas, for example, mused that it contradicted our natural human instincts and…
582 results

Full text Article Euthanasia

From World of Criminal Justice, Gale
Jimmy Shrode (right), holding Jack Kevorkian...
Euthanasia, which in Greek means “easy or good death,” is the act of killing an incurably ill person out of concern and compassion for that person’s suffering. It is sometimes called mercy killing, but many advocates of euthanasia define mercy killing more precisely as the ending of another person’s…
| 792 words , 1 image
Key concepts:

Full text Article Euthanasia

From World of Sociology, Gale
Jack Kevorkian (right), an advocate of legalized...
Euthanasia is a term derived from the Greek, meaning “the good death.” It has also been interpreted as “mercy killing” which is actually a form of euthanasia, termed “active,” implying a deliberate intervention to end a patient’s life when the patient is terminally ill or in unbearable pain. There…
| 733 words , 1 image
Key concepts:

Full text Article Euthanasia

From The SAGE Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Religion
Euthanasia (from the Greek for “easy death”) refers to allowing someone or something to die through painless, and often medically induced, means. Most religious traditions have a variety of beliefs and practices about death and its consequences, and many religious groups are actively engaged in…
| 1,096 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Euthanasia

From Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine
Euthanasia in a hospital setting. (sfam photo /...
Euthanasia is the act of putting a person (or animal) to death painlessly, or allowing a person (or animal) to die by withholding medical treatment in cases of incurable disease. The word euthanasia comes from two Greek words that mean “good death.” Euthanasia is sometimes called “mercy killing.” …
| 2,045 words , 1 image

Full text Article Euthanasia

From Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health
Euthanasia is the act of putting a person (or animal) to death painlessly, or allowing a person (or animal) to die by withholding medical treatment in cases of incurable disease. The word “euthanasia” comes from two Greek words that mean “good death.” Euthanasia is sometimes called “mercy killing.” …
| 1,988 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Euthanasia

From The Encyclopedia of Aging
“Euthanasia” comes from Greek words meaning “a gentle and easy death” or “the means of bringing about a gentle and easy death.” Most ancient Greek and Roman practitioners—Socrates, Plato, and Stoic philosophers from Zeno to Seneca—supported physician-induced death of the sick and suffering to bring…
| 1,170 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article EUTHANASIA

From The Encyclopedia of Elder Care
comfort care, depression, dying, ethical status, euthanasia, legal status, pain control, palliative care, suicide, terminally ill Depression, Euthanasia, Jurisprudence, Palliative Care, Patient Comfort, Suicide, Terminally Ill Euthanasia comes from Greek words meaning “a gentle and easy death” and…
| 1,381 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article EUTHANASIA

From International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family
The passage from life to death should be serene and dignified, not an agonizing ordeal. This conception of eu (good) thanasia (death) is expressed in the term itself as it comes from Greek antiquity. A serene death might be achieved through skilled and compassionate care, as well as by the dying…
| 1,980 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Euthanasia

From Keywords for Disability Studies
Although euthanasia is Greek for “good death,” the term's meaning has varied throughout its history. In Western societies, prior to the nineteenth century, euthanasia was a death blessed by God; such a death could be hoped for but was beyond human control. The rise of medical authority in the late…
| 1,027 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article euthanasia

From Encyclopedia of Ethics
The term ‘euthanasia’ is derived from the Greek eu , ‘good,” and thanatos , ‘death” — literally an easy or good death. Despite attempts to develop a reasonably adequate definition, the term remains ambiguous and tends to be used persuasively in the literature. It is often lexically defined as “the…
| 4,762 words
Key concepts:
Mind Map

Stack overflow
More Library Resources