The word euthanasia is derived from the Greek word and consists of the words "good" and "death", which means that the patient can die without pain. In 1516, Thomas More defended euthanasia in "Utopia": If the patient is tortured by a painful, incurable disease, the patient can choose to die.
After more than half a century of hard work, in February 1993, the Netherlands passed a bill on "patients who do not hope to be cured have the right to demand the end of their lives", becoming the first country in the world to pass euthanasia legislation. A similar bill was passed in the Northern Territory of Australia in 1995. In April 2002, the Belgian Parliament passed the euthanasia law, becoming the second country in the world to allow euthanasia in legal form.
The movie "Deep Sea Sleep" (2004), based on the real deeds of the Spaniard Raymond, discusses death from beginning to end, but it gives people the feeling of love, sympathy and warmth. The film has been quietly asking: What is the meaning of life? How can the dignity of life be realized if it is not through individual lives that respect each other's independent and free will?
Raymond was paralyzed from the neck down in 1967 due to a diving accident at the beach. If he had never traveled the world and loved the sea so much, Raymond would not eagerly demand the right to death for decades: In 1993, the 50-year-old Raymond asked the government to allow others to assist him in euthanasia and appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. , And ultimately failed. Think of the beaches in Brazil, think of the Vietnamese girl who used to ride a rickshaw with herself, those intense sports, football-think about it, a life that was so active in the past was paralyzed in bed, day after day What is it like after 30 years, 4 months and a few days? Oh my god, this kind of pain stretches for decades, what's the difference between it and hell? Raymond's autobiography is called "Letters from Hell." Can you hurry up and let my life return to the end, return to the sea, return to tranquility?
The paralyzed bishop thought: "The freedom that can stop life is not freedom!"
Raymond tit-for-tat: "The life that can stop freedom is not life!"
An English poet once asked: "If life is a bad movie, why bother to wait. End?" When life becomes torture or cumbersome, when love becomes punishment, I believe that no matter in the name of the law or in the name of God, Raymond should not be forced to spend the rest of his life in inhuman suffering. In January 1998, Raymond committed suicide by taking drugs with the assistance of others. The Spanish police arrested Raymond’s 22-year-old girlfriend on suspicion of assisted suicide. About 3,000 of Raymond’s fellow villagers surrendered collectively, claiming that he was the “true murderer” who assisted Raymond in suicide. ", forcing the police to investigate the matter.
"Sleep in the Deep" has won many film awards including the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with incomparable frankness and thorough understanding of the meaning of life. The most touching part of the film is to show the preciousness of life through daily life lens, and how different characters understand the dignity of life, their conflicts and tearful understanding. The film does not want to point fingers at anyone, because every life is so different, it just allows the audience to experience the dignity and beauty of life, and inspires you to inquire about the true meaning of life.
If the suffering patient is already dying ill, what about the doctors who have their bounden duty to help the world and heal the wounded? In June 1986, Wang Ming, a native of Shaanxi, became a mother who was terminally ill with liver cancer and applied for and executed euthanasia. The first case of "euthanasia" in China caused a sensation across the country, and the controversy over euthanasia swept the entire society. Deng Yingchao wrote to the Central People’s Broadcasting Station on January 22, 1988: "I think euthanasia is a materialist point of view. I have left a will a few years ago. When my life is about to end, I will not need labor and drugs to extend my life. At that time, don’t use rescue methods." On October 16, 1989, he said: "When my life is about to end, don’t use drugs to rescue. It is a waste of manpower and material resources. Please organize approval and give euthanasia. ." Her frankness and ethics have been fully affirmed by the top CCP leaders.
The People's Procuratorate of Hanzhong, Shaanxi prosecuted Wang Mingcheng and the attending doctor Pu Liansheng for intentional homicide. In April 1991, the court acquitted the two of them. Pu Liansheng's American colleague Jack Kowokian was not so lucky.
Since assisting the 54-year-old Janet to commit suicide in 1990, the pathologist Jack has helped 130 patients "get rid of pain." He has always been on the cusp of public opinion with his unassuming and fearless character and has appeared in court for 5 times. In November 1998, Jack showed off the whole process of assisting patients in suicide on the famous "60 Minutes" program of CBS, which completely annoyed the judicial authorities and was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for second-degree murder. In 2007 Just released.
On April 14, 2010, 82-year-old Jack Kovorkian attended the premiere of the film "Doctor Death" in New York in New York. The old actor Pacino portrayed Jack's stubbornness, pride, and life-giving qualities. As an advocate of euthanasia and a human rights fighter, Jack did not hesitate to test the law by himself and repeatedly challenged the red line of social tolerance. He insists that his actions are to help those who are desperate to escape from the sea of suffering, and have nothing to do with "murder".
When a patient asks for euthanasia, Jack always makes a detailed understanding first and seeks the opinions of the patient's family. If the patient asks to leave the world because of depression, Jack will refuse. For those patients whose life extension is tantamount to torture, life is not as good as death, Jack is not a "death doctor", but an angel: With the assistance of this angel, it is possible for them to be decent and indifferent in the company of their relatives. Painfully leave this world that made them suffer.
"The world's attitude towards euthanasia and assisted suicide is very hypocritical." Jack said in an interview with the media recently that he has never regretted helping patients exercise their right to death, and will not change their original intentions even if they go to jail.
All human activities must ultimately point to one goal: the dignity of life and the dignity of death. (Xinmin Weekly)
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