The debate about euthanasia flared up again last week with the death of a cancer-stricken French woman. Former schoolteacher Chantal Sebire, 52, suffered from a rare form of cancer which caused her face to become deformed and swollen.
The severely disfigured woman, who lost her sight and senses of smell and taste because of the malignant tumour, died two days after the French court rejected her request for the right to die.
Euthanasia, which means mercy-killing or medically-assisted death, has caused heated debates around the world. It may be conducted with or without the patient's consent. Voluntary euthanasia involves a patient asking to be killed. Involuntary euthanasia usually involves an unconscious patient whose death is decided without his consent. As a patient in an incurably vegetative state or irretrievable coma cannot agree to the act of euthanasia, his proxies - usually his doctors or family - make the decision to end his life. This form of euthanasia has long divided societies as it can be equated to murder.
In a medical sense, the practice is divided into two types - active and passive euthanasia. The former involves medical practitioners using lethal substances or fatal medical means to end the lives of patients. As this aggressive form of euthanasia runs contrary to a doctor's sworn duty to save lives, it has caused the most strident protests.
The most famous proponent of euthanasia is Jack Kevorkian, dubbed Doctor Death. The retired pathologist claims to have euthanised 130 patients. He was finally convicted of murder and sentenced to prison after he sent a tape of himself in the act to a television show.
Passive euthanasia usually entails the unplugging of life support systems or withholding treatments like medication, surgery or even food and water essential to sustaining the patient's life.
