Euthenasia, Affecting Todays World

Euthanasia as a topic is often highly-charged--emotionally, politically, and morally. Terminology and laws shift over time, geographically and globally, causing a great deal of confusion. In politically and emotionally loaded terms, this is frequently and incorrectly referred to as physician-assisted suicide. There is some debate as to whether euthanasia refers to "letting die" or "allowing to die." In the United States and the Netherlands, "letting die" or "allowing to die" refer to areas which the …

…has tainted the word especially in German-speaking countries; especially as one of the main advocates of euthanasia in Germany after World War II, was Werner Catel, a leading Nazi doctor directly involved in T4. The alternate term is the older Sterbehilfe, which means "help the dying to die smoothly". This meaning of the term "Sterbehilfe" is used within today's discussions in German newspapers and in other public forums like the TV, radio and the Internet.