The answer of the centuries. In history, the euthanasia pendulum swings between the two extremes
Journal Title: Αρχεία Ελληνικής Ιατρικής - Year 2016, Vol 33, Issue 0
Abstract
Since humanity's earliest written works, the issue of euthanasia has been sparking controversy. From Moses' "do not kill", the pendulum swings between the two extremes. The dogma of the Old Testament (Sophia Seirah) "death is preferable to a punishing, miserable life" is not yet accepted as a universal axiom, except maybe for ourselves. Although great men like Aeschylus, Sophocles, Hippocrates, Plato, Socrates, the Stoics, Shakespeare and others recognize human beings' right to self-determination when it comes to their own death, European Law, with the exception of Switzerland and the Benelux, is still bound by the experience of World War II. The so called "Euthanasia" program of the Third Reich (in reality, cold murders, i.e., dysthanasia maximal) and the Trial of Nuremberg (1948) have left their mark on European Law, including the Greek Penal Code (1951) whose article 300 needs urgent revision to keep up with modern reality.
Authors and Affiliations
S. GEROULANOS
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP143901
- DOI -
- Views 47
- Downloads 0
Human enteric microbiome: Its role in health and disease
The study of the human commensal micro-flora has recently regained the interest of the scientific community, particularly after the development of genomics and bio-informatics. The genes of the microbes found in the vari...
Intensive care unit acquired weakness
In the last 15 years, the rapid development of therapeutic agents in intensive care has resulted in increased numbers of intensive care unit (ICU) survivors, leading to the need to study the long term complications of IC...
Διαχρονικές τάσεις και αιτίες περιγεννητικής, νεογνικής και βρεφικής θνησιμότητας
Μετά τη δεκαετία του 1940, οι εξελίξεις στην αντιμετώπιση των λοιμώξεων είχαν ως αποτέλεσμα την προοδευτική μείωση της βρεφικής θνησιμότητας, ώστε μέχρι το 2001 να μειωθεί κάτω από 6‰ στις χώρες-μέλη της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωση...
Current opinions about non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a spectrum of metabolic liver disease that extends from bland steatosis, through steatohepatitis, with liver cell injury, inflammation, pericellular fibrosis and non-alcoholic...
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria: From the molecular and biochemical defect to the clinical presentation
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) or Marchiafava-Micheli disease is an acquired clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorder that few clinicians or even hematologists have followed throughout its full natural history...