Euthanasia

Euthanasia (Gr.), an easy death, or a painless method of putting to death. The use of narcotics or other means for shortening life in disease has never become a subject of discussion in modern civilised countries, but it is often a very practical question how far such means are admissible for soothing the last hours of life, when the approach of death does not itself dull the consciousness and the sensibility to pain. It must be decided according to all the surrounding circumstances, medical and otherwise, in each individual case. As to the medical treatment to be employed for diminishing the sufferings of the dying, see Munk's Euthanasia (1887).