Euthanasia

euthanasia /eu·tha·na·sia/ (u?thah-na´zhah)

1. an easy or painless death.

2. mercy killing; the deliberate ending of life of a person suffering from an incurable disease.

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eu·tha·na·sia (yth-nzh)

n.

1. The act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment.

2. A quiet, painless death.

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Euthanasia

The act of putting a person or animal to death painlessly or allowing them to die by withholding medical services, usually because of a painful and incurable disease. Mercy killing is another term for euthanasia.

Mentioned in: Bereavement, Suicide

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euthanasia (yōō·th·nāˑ·zh),

n the act of facilitating death in a terminally ill patient, whether by deliberate activity, such as the administration of drugs that hasten death (known as
active euthanasia), or passive, as in the withholding of life-extending treatment
(passive euthanasia).

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euthanasia

(ū´thnā´zh),
n an act of deliberately bringing about the death of a person who is suffering from an incurable disease or condition; also called
mercy killing. Active euthanasia is illegal in most jurisdictions; passive euthanasia, or the withholding of some life support systems, has legal standing in some jurisdictions.

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euthanasia

1. an easy or painless death.

2. the deliberate ending of life of an animal suffering from an incurable disease; called also mercy killing, to put down, to put to sleep.

For the individual animal intravenous injection of a massive dose of barbiturate is best. Any narcotizing drug creates difficulties if the carcass is to be disposed of for pet meat. In those cases shooting with a bullet or captive bolt pistol is recommended because of the speed of the despatch. For large numbers of animals at a pound or shelter, injection procedures are still superior to the bulk methods which all have the fallibility of poorly managed and supervised machinery. Carbon monoxide is very fast but dangerous to the operators of the cabinet. Electrocution cannot be performed en masse and gassing with carbon monoxide or lowering of the atmospheric pressure are not really quick enough. Small laboratory animals are still despatched by a sharp blow to the head and birds by guillotine or separation of the cervical vertebrae.

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electrical euthanasia

uses mains electrical current passed through the subject's body via clips applied to the skin of the ear and the tail. Not much employed because of danger to human operators, likelihood of equipment failure and need for close contact with device.