Fast+Facts

**-Euthanasia** is the intentional ending of a patient's life by a physician, usually by lethal injection. -Euthanasia is prohibited in all 50 states under homicide laws. -Assisted suicide involves one person providing the means and instructions to help another person commit suicide. -Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands with or without the consent of the patient. -Guidelines have been adopted to allow the killing of newborns with disabilities.
 * -Physician-assisted suicide** refers to the ending of life through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications, expressly prescribed by a physician for that purpose.

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**These are some reasons why people shouldnt have the right to choose to die** ** if there sick or dying. ** __-Patients are misdiagnosed and could make an irreversible decision to die based on the wrong information. You may know someone who was told they had three months to live who survived for years. -Because patients are strongly influenced by doctors, a vulnerable patient may feel there is no other alternative if his or her doctor recommends death. -Patients with terminal or serious illnesses change their minds. When they don’t feel well, they may want to die. When feeling better, they want to live. -Patients suffering from depression may request death, not knowing that their quality of life can be improved with proper treatment.



**Animals with Euthanasia**

 * Of the 1,000 shelters that replied to the National Council's survey, 4.3 million animals were handled.
 * In 1997 roughly 64% of the total number of animals that entered shelters were euthanized -- approximately 2.7 million animals in just these 1,000 shelters.These animals may have been put down due to overcrowding, but may have been sick, aggressive, injured, or suffered something else.
 * 56% of dogs and 71% of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized. More cats are euthanized than dogs because they are more likely to enter a shelter without any owner identification.
 * It is from these numbers that we estimated what is occurring nationwide. It is widely accepted that 9.6 million animals are euthanized annually in the United State. [[image:35076442.45160422.jpg]]

Sources: http://www.religionfacts.com/euthanasia/stats.htm http://www.wrtl.org/assistedsuicide/fastfacts.aspx http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/euthanasia.htm