Euthanasia and Medical Ethics in Nigeria

Issues in euthanasia have become one of the debatable topics in the present situation, one of the reasons being the fear of lingering between life and death in an unbearable and painful condition. With the advent of science and technology in the field of medicine, the physician can always dictate terms in curing the diseases, which were once considered to be fatal. This implication has eroded the line between life and death where people are of the firm conviction that with the help of a physician we can always dictate death to wait for some more time. This advance in technology has bridged the dividing line between life and death where the transition from life to death can be sustained by artificial machines. One important consequence of this advancement in science and technology resulting in sustaining death, posed a serious question among the physicians, lawyers, ethicists and society in settling the line that separates life and death. For instance, the physicians desire to frame some definitions of death so that they can protect themselves legally and allow them to perform certain medical procedures like organ transplantation, so that they can ease their conscience in dealing with death. The ethical debate on Euthanasia thus creates interest in the researcher to study about the topic in detail. The research work is be based on the data collected from libraries, journals, magazines, newspaper, law report, seminars, and conferences. The researcher has also reviewed few articles in which it has been observed that the authors have analyzed the differences of arguments in and against euthanasia to portray its progressiveness