"mercy killing"

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What do you think of mercy killing?Do you think it is a good way for an old man who don't want to live in the world? Question

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Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 929 • Replies: 6

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ummm
Define mercy killing? do you mean euthanasia?

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Well, "mercy killing" is a pretty common euphemism for euthanasia.

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Quote:

eu·tha·na·sia
n.
The act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment.

IMO, all mercy killings are euthanasia, but not all euthanasia is a mercy killing. I think that in order for an act is to be considered a "mercy killing", the person has to be in some sort of distress, and actively want to die. If a person is in a persistent vegetative state, or a coma, (this is whether the person has written advance directives or not) and the "plug is pulled", the person is undergoing euthanasia, but it is not a mercy killing (unless you consider that it is mercy for the relatives watching the patient).

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even if the two are usually interchangable, I wanted to be sure.

It is usually good to be as specific as possible when talking about death and killing.

you never know where someone else is coming from.

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I'm leaving this topic alone. But one of the fundies will see it soon, and then all hell is going to break loose.

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Quote:

even if the two are usually interchangable, I wanted to be sure.

In the dictionary, the terms are interchangable. I do think though, that there IS a subtle difference. If an act of removing a breathing machine from someone with a flat EEG is called "mercy killing", I believe that the word is used more out of "political correctness" than exact meaning.

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"mercy killing"

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