State University of Moldova Law Faculty

Essay on Euthanasia issues and judicial cases with interrelation of local law of RM.

Student: Oleg Andreev Chisinau 2013 ContentsIntroduction.........................................................................................................................3The main topic.....................................................................................................................5The importance of the topic.................................................................................................5

IntroductionNotion and practice of euthanasia can be traced back to ancient Greek and Roman societies where there was sometimes allowed euthanasia in order to escape from pain. With the development of religion life became to be viewed as sacred which abolished and prohibited euthanasia. Nowadays euthanasia is considered as the biggest controversy of the last 10 years. Some jurists say that human life should be treated with high respect and any attempt to end it should be prosecuted, the others say that leaving terminally ill patients in constant agony is a cruelty. In this essay I'll try to decide whether to support one or another idea as well as to analyze cases and the importance of regulation or restricting euthanasia.

The main topicIn the US and UK euthanasia is usually qualified as a murder or assisted suicide and it doesn't have a special article in the CC as it does in the Moldovan Code , the American jurists define euthanasia as a way for a person to commit suicide with the help of a medical professional. This issue has been the center of many debates not only in Moldova, the whole west and a part of the east are deciding upon this issue . In most cases a doctor administers the drug or medicine that will end the life of a person in pain or just disconnects the person from life supporting machines. It is important to take into consideration both the relativist and absolutist prospective on this issue because it will help us understand the specifics of euthanasia in different countries. The biggest difference between Moldovan and the UK's and US's approach of euthanasia is the fact that Moldovan legislator has included into the CC art.148 the conditions of euthanasia, according to our lawmakers the first condition is the agreement of the person that gives his consent to euthanasia, the second condition are the unbearable sufferings or pain that feels the victim. The American case law doesn't require as a mandatory condition for qualifying the offence as euthanasia(which is permitted in couple of states) the agreement of the victim, such example would be Terry Schiavo's case where the husband wanted to remove his wife off of life support and her family members wanted to keep her on life support. Schiavos case also tells us about a method of euthanasia, which tells us that not all the types of euthanasia are punished with the same period of detention like in RM. In the US euthanasia is divided into voluntary, involuntary, active and passive . Active euthanasia is the situation when the doctor administrates a lethal doze of medicine, non-active euthanasia refers to the method of switching off the life support, voluntary is the euthanasia with the consent of the victim, involuntary without the consent.Oh right, lets observe the moral pecularities of euthanasia from a Moldovan prospective.From my point of view euthanasia in Moldova should be strongly disapproved because of religious influence and the incompetence of the doctors. A small google research told me that only in Netherlands since the legalization of euthanasia over 1000 people are killed every year by doctors. The legal mechanism which was originally designed for a specific group of people (terminal illness) transformed into a mechanism of getting rid of patients in coma and patients with curable diseases. Taking into account that Moldova is not Netherlands and that the law works here much worse than there, I would say that the number of killed people due to a so called Moldovan legal euthanasia would be 3 times bigger or even more. Euthanasia should not be encouraged and life should be preserved at all costs. I understand very well that there are some people with terminal diseases and painful sufferings which wish to die, but we can't do that just because Moldova is not ready for such a modification, even developed countries as Netherlands can not keep control of the situation, I imagine what would have happened in RM . The importance on deciding upon this matter In order to justify my opinion and deduce the importance of deciding on this matter I would like to analyze a case .The most recent and most controversial euthanasia doctor is Dr. Jack Kevorkian. He was first charged with first degree murder in December of 1990. He connected Janet Adkins, a member of the Hemlock Society, to his suicide machine which allowed her to inject lethal drugs into her body at any time . He has since then been present at the deaths of more than forty people . About 10 out 40 people at whose deaths Kevorkian was present weren't people with terminal diseases. These people were either in coma or just felling a strong pain, which means that these people had a chance of getting well, which means that these people have been murdered . This case points out the importance of keeping the euthanasia illegal , because people who still have chance will die just because someone didn't make the right diagnosis or wants to get rid of them.In conclusion I want to mention that at first it feels like euthanasia has a good outcome, but all of these is on the surface, euthanasia will produce negative effects in the society , it will affect our attitude concerning the life and death , it will also affect our attitude to the sick . In case Moldova legalizes the euthanasia we won't be able to keep it under control as it happened in Netherlands, also the right to die in time will become the obligation to die. If it becomes legal physicians will have to choose whether to treat a person or make a fake diagnosis that a person is terminally ill and kill this person. It is always cheaper to kill than to cure.

.