At this year's NPC deputies' meeting, the "proposal to legalize euthanasia" was once again put forward by NPC deputies.
In fact, as early as 30 years ago, "euthanasia cases" appeared in the mainland, do you know the results of the first "euthanasia" case in China?
01, the patient "cirrhosis", the pain is unbearable
That was in 1987, Shaanxi. Wang Mingcheng's mother, Xia Suwen, has been ill for a long time and was diagnosed with "hard liver and ascites" 3 years ago. At the beginning of the year, Xia Suwen's condition worsened, he fell into a coma for many times, and in June he was transferred to Hanzhong Infectious Disease Hospital for hospitalization.
However, the situation was not optimistic, and the doctor issued a critical illness notice on the same day. In the following days, Xia Suwen behaved in great pain and irritability, screaming and screaming at night, crying and crying and wanting to die.
The next day, when the dean inspected the room, Wang Mingcheng knew that his mother's illness would not get better. Unable to bear his mother's pain, Wang Mingcheng asked the dean if there was any way to make his mother swallow his breath early and be rejected.
02, three times pleaded, he finally could not bear to refuse again
But Wang Mingcheng did not give up, and he immediately found the doctor in charge, Pu Liansheng.
At first, Pu Liansheng refused, but Wang Mingcheng repeatedly demanded, even kneeling and crying, and said that he would bear all the responsibility. In the end, Pu Liansheng agreed.
Pu Liansheng prescribed Xia Suwen a 100 mg compound hibernation spirit and stated on the prescription that the family had requested euthanasia. Then, at the request of Pu Liansheng, the intern doctor was forced to inject Xia Suwen with a 75 ml compound hibernation spirit. On the same day, Pu Liansheng instructed the doctor on duty that if Xia Suwen was not dead at 12 o'clock, he would have another injection of compound hibernation.
At 1-3 p.m. on the same day, Wang Mingcheng twice found the doctor on duty, and the doctor on duty prescribed a 100mg compound hibernation spirit and completed the injection. At 5 a.m. the next day, he was pronounced dead.
03, the defendant went to court, and after many years, he sighed: Repentance is not the beginning
However, nearly 3 months after Xia Suwen's death, Pu Liansheng, Wang Mingcheng and four others were arrested because the patient's eldest daughter reported it, and Pu Liansheng was prosecuted for intentional homicide.
Forensic identification: Xia Suwen's main cause of death was hepatic encephalopathy, the amount of compound hibernation spirit (175 mg) received twice injected was within the normal range, and the death performance did not show a sudden drop in blood pressure or respiratory central depression. Therefore, it is believed that the compound hibernation spirit only deepened her coma and was not the direct cause of death.
Although the use of drugs was not the direct cause of Xia Suwen's death, the two men's actions were deliberate acts of depriving citizens of their right to life. On April 6, 1994, Pu Liansheng and Wang Mingcheng were acquitted.
In fact, although acquitted, the outcome of the trial also shows that at the legal level, euthanasia was found to be a deliberate act of depriving others of their lives. In the end, Pu Liansheng stayed in the detention center for a total of 492 days.
Years later, Pu Liansheng participated in an interview with CCTV's "News Night Talk".
Because of this case, his job was gone, he was resented by the people at home, resented by the people in the hospital, and he was worse off than those who participated in the work in the same year.
He said that if he encountered such a thing again in the future, he would not do it again anyway. Even if the other party kneels down and takes 100,000 or 1 million, it is impossible to do it for him.
In 2003, Wang Mingcheng was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer and once again asked the hospital for euthanasia, but this time the hospital did not agree, and finally he left in pain.
In which countries does euthanasia give the green light?
Euthanasia, derived from the Greek word, literally means "good death". There are many types of euthanasia, and the more common and easy-to-understand classifications can be divided into "voluntary euthanasia", "involuntary euthanasia", "involuntary euthanasia".
Voluntary euthanasia is when the person concerned is willing, hopeful and demanding euthanasia. Involuntary euthanasia is when a person has lost the ability to choose between death or life, but has been executed or allowed to die in a benevolent manner. Involuntary euthanasia is when the person concerned does not agree to end his or her life but is still executed, which amounts to "murder".
Involuntary euthanasia is not as far away as we might think.
This type of euthanasia is generally divided into active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. The former is that medical staff take the initiative to take measures to accelerate the death of patients. The latter is a medical measure that suspends the life of the patient and allows the patient to die on his own. Passive euthanasia exists in reality, that is, "suffering from a terminal illness and giving up treatment".
At present, there are more and more countries where euthanasia is legal, including Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, etc.
Source: The Paper
Second, "euthanasia" legislation needs to be cautious
Although euthanasia is legal in some countries, there have been many cases of illegal deprivation of life under the pretext of euthanasia. Why is it difficult for mainland china to achieve euthanasia legislation?
From the perspective of value judgment, euthanasia legislation has its legitimacy and rationality, but the current social environment and medical conditions in the mainland have not yet met the requirements of euthanasia legislation.
From an ethical point of view, whether euthanasia is legal or not, it is to protect patients suffering from diseases, which is ethical. However, since euthanasia involves many aspects such as human rights and the right to life, there are many details to consider, and legalization is not an easy task.
Professor Yan Sanzhong, director of the Master of Laws Education Center of Jiangxi Normal University, believes that to achieve legislation on "euthanasia", we must strive to achieve the following four prerequisites:
1. Medical technology needs to be popularized and continuously developed.
For example, rural hospitals, health centers and other places can not judge whether the conditions for euthanasia are met, otherwise it is likely to cause "manslaughter" when the law does not have clear constraints.
2. The universal medical security system still needs to be continuously improved.
For ordinary families, some seriously ill patients may give up treatment against their own will because of the cost problem.
3. The doctor's medical ethics should be improved and the public trust should be established.
Doctors must have a very high level of ethics, otherwise there is also the possibility of forced euthanasia against the patient's will.
4. The technical and ethical norms of euthanasia should be improved
Accurate technical and ethical assessments are needed to prevent legal and moral hazards.
In 2021, the Journal of Demography published a survey on "popular attitudes toward euthanasia", and the results showed that 55.2% of people were in favor of euthanasia, and 44.8% were not in favor or neutral, of which 7.1% were explicitly opposed. What do you think about that?
Source: Reference 4
The road to legalisation of euthanasia is a long one, and we cannot easily reach results without legal protection, and the right to life cannot be sloppy.
Resources:
[1] "Euthanasia is legal, childbirth analgesia is free, creating anesthesia treatment department, three things he most wants to do". Medical Community.2022-03-27
[2] "No. 719 [Legal Knowledge] Overview of "Euthanasia"" 2019-03-15
[3] "The incident of the 86-year-old man pulling out his wife's snorkel has aroused heated discussion, should euthanasia be legislated?" 》. China Medical Tribune. 2019-01-22
[4] Zhuo Wang, Shasha Li, Chinese Public Attitude toward Euthanasia and Its Influencing Factors: Based on 2019 Poll Data, Journal of Demography, 2021.03
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