Background: Euthanasia means help to die. Some terminally ill patients wish for Euthanasia. Purpose: Illuminating terminally ill patients' desire for voluntary Euthanasia. Method: A general literature study. Seven articles were reviewed and analyzed.

The question of Euthanasia has kept pre-occupying and agitating the minds of thinkers, sweeping the globe, pummelling pedagogy, assailing assumptions, and bludgeoning biases. Both the moralist, ethicist, theologian, psychologist, educationist, anthropologist, politician, physician, patient as well as the common man in the street are interested in it. This pervading interest simply arises out of the fact that Euthanasia involves the question of life, and life is something that is a common denominator to all men.The controversy hinges on the fact that, there are divergent views on the moral question of Euthanasia. While some would unflinchingly opt for Euthanasia others would prefer to oppose it to the best of their strength, yet others will remain agnostic about it. But the issue here remains: is Euthanasia in any way morally justified? Has human life an intrinsic value? Or is human life valuable only when it is healthy? Are we the ones who decide when to die? Has the physician any right to either assist or terminate the life of the patient simply on account of suffering? Has the patient any right to end his/her life? Are there some conditions in which Euthanasia could be allowed? Is suffering meaningless?The topic of my project is: THE MORALITY OF Euthanasia IN THE LIGHT OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?S TEACHING.

As a pet owner you are likely to someday face the decision to euthanize your pet and as a veterinarian or veterinary technician you are the one to perform this Euthanasia. The reason for Euthanasia may be depending on the animal, for instance illness, age and behavioral problems or depending on the needs of the owner or the society, so called convenience Euthanasia. Many different Euthanasia methods can be used when putting an animal to sleep. The method preferred in animal hospitals is pharmacological Euthanasia either by inhalation of anesthetics or by injection of a Euthanasia agent. If the pet owner wishes to be present during the procedure it is important to prepare him for what will happen. Many animals are sedated before the Euthanasia in order to reduce anxiety and to ensure a softer transition between life and death. The Euthanasia agent can then be administrated for instance intravenously or intraperitonealy.

The two most controversial ends of life decisions are those in which physicians help patients take their lives and when the physician deliberately and directly intervenes to end the patients? life upon his request. These are often referred to as voluntary Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. Voluntary Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide have continued to be controversial public issues. This controversy has agitated the minds of great thinkers including ethicians, physicians, psychologists, moralists, philosophers even the patient himself.

Sometimes relatives have taken me on one side and told me they cannot bear it any more:"Isn't there something you can do to end it all?"More often requests for Euthanasia have come from those who are ill. I remember visiting a man with lung cancer. He asked his wife to leave the room. As she closed the door he leaned over and grabbed my arm.

Today there are various methods to use when euthanizing horses. Earlier the use of free or captive bullet was the most common method, but in recent decades this has changed and chemical Euthanasia is now considered the most common method. The chemical Euthanasia has in Sweden been dominated by the use of barbiturates. Somulose® entered the market in the beginning of the 90?s as an alternative to previous chemical Euthanasia.

The term Euthanasia is derived from the Greek terms eu meaning good and thanatos meaning death, "good death". The penetrating captive bolt is an effective method of Euthanasia, when use of drugs is inappropriate. The horse becomes immediately unconscious and falls to the ground. First after the blood is emptied from the body the horse is dead. The use of injectable Euthanasia agents is a rapid and reliable method of performing Euthanasia. The aim is to stop the flow of oxygenated blood to vital organs and tissues. The muscle relaxants may be used either in combination wih or following an anaesthetic dose of barbiturate, their use use as a sole agent is totally inhumane.

In this essay I have tried to come close to a probable answer to the following question: Is there a risk that the trust between the Swedish public and the Swedish medical services staff, including the doctors, will be severely damaged if Euthanasia is legalized in Sweden.In order to try to answer that question, and some other relevant questions that has corresponding interest in the context that Euthanasia marks, I have done like this: I have investigated experiences from the Netherlands and from Oregon. Since Euthanasia is legalized - though partly in different forms - in both these sites. I have then tried to relate the most relevant parts of these experiences to a theoretical frame. This frame had been set up by three concepts: the sanctity of life, autonomy and trust.I have also tried to come close to understanding the impact that demands for autonomy has in this context. And I have tried to understand if the trust that the public has for a country´s medical services staff and the actual doctors is a form of trust that ought to be understood as a form of trust incorporated in social capital.I have come to the conclusion that there is no great risk that the trust between the Swedish public and the Swedish medical services staff, including the doctors, will be severely damaged if Euthanasia is legalized in Sweden.

Dogs with behavioral problemsThis study was made to investigate if there was a problem in today?s society regarding dogs showing for example excessive aggression and/or anxiety. The main questions in this study was "is there a problem today" and "if there is a problem, what can we do to prevent it". To investigate these questions interviews were made with six different professions concerning the dog domain. The result of the study shows that three of the interviewed considered it to be a problem, one did not have an opinion on the matter and two choose not to call it a dog related problem because it mostly depends on the owner.

We know that more than 2/3 of insured dogs in Sweden are put to death by a veterinarian, which means that almost one third are killed in trauma, lost or die in some other way. An unknown number of these are killed by their owner with no veterinarian involved. This graduate thesis contains a specification of the laws that control Euthanasia of dogs and cats in Sweden, and the veterinary medical basics on how to perform Euthanasia. The objective is also to give understanding on how pet owners choose to put their animal to death and why, and to discuss whether that is an animal welfare problem. It is legal to kill dogs and cats by shooting, using a sporting gun, provided that it is done according to laws and regulations.

The aim of this study was to get an insight into the pet owners? experiences associated with Euthanasia at small animal clinics, concerning their emotions, the treatment by the personnel and the experiences around various types of support provided by the personnel. The target group was pet owners who had had their animal euthanized at a small animal clinic. Incomplete survey responses and responses where it was clear that the Euthanasia took place in the owner?s home were excluded. In the end, a total of 442 pet owners participated and out of those were 92 % women and 8 % were men. The study was carried out using a web-based questionnaire consisting of standardized questions with the opportunity to give further comments to each question and in the field of ?Other comments? as well. Swedish small animal related companies and forums were contacted via email and were asked to alert about the present study on their website or forum.

The quality of health and care of our animals in the veterinary clinic is dependent on the veterinary nurse. Therefore it is important that the nurse has a good mental health and can provide this. Research shows that veterinarians are exposed to an elevated risk of suicide, moral stress, depression and anxiety. One of the factors contributing is believed to be exposure to Euthanasia. The impact of Euthanasia to veterinary nurses is yet unclear, as research focuses on veterinarians.

Too many dogs are euthanized because of different kind of behaviour problems today. Is it really necessary? Who has the main responsibility for this action? Do breed differences matter when it comes to increased risk of Euthanasia of the dog? The purpose of this piece of work is to find the answers to these questions and also to find out what kind of behaviour problems that can lead to Euthanasia of dogs in general. The most common reason for dogs being euthanized is aggression. The aggression can be directed toward humans or other animals, mostly other dogs. There are some important factors of the dog that increases the risk of being euthanized, and these are the breed, the gender and sexual status and also the size of the dog.

Bakgrund: I Sverige vårdas döende patienter både på hospice och på allmänna vårdavdelningar. Vissa av dessa patienter uttrycker en önskan om att få påskynda döden. Sjuksköterskor beskriver ibland en osäkerhet i hur de ska bemöta dessa patienter och vad denna önskan består i. Det kan finnas olika bakomliggande orsaker till en förfrågan av den här typen och en del av dessa kanske går att åtgärda.Syfte: Att beskriva bakomliggande faktorer till att vissa svårt sjuka patienter önskar påskynda sitt döende.Metod: En litteraturstudie baserat på 11 vetenskapliga artiklar genomfördes.Resultat: Rädsla inför lidande i framtiden visade sig vara den mest förekommande faktorn till att vissa patienter önskade påskynda döendet. Fler bidragande orsaker var svåra symtom (särskilt smärta), förluster av bland annat identitet och värdighet, samt en känsla av att vara en börda.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka intresset för aktiv dödshjälp hos patienter som lider av en långt framskriden cancer samt vilka faktorer som påverkar dem i detta ställningstagande. I en litteraturstudie har relevant litteratur insamlats, analyserats och tolkats. Utifrån bevisen från sammanlagt fem kvalitativa studier har nya slutsatser dragits. Resultaten pekar på att det finns ett intresse för aktiv dödshjälp bland svårt sjuka cancerpatienter men att detta i hög grad är framtidsorienterat. Faktorer som påverkar intresset är uppfattningen om att vara en börda för andra, rädsla för framtiden, lidande, den demoraliserande inverkan som cancern har på individen samt religion och etik..