Euthanasia
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Euthanasia is a complex social, moral and legal issues that is made even more so because of our attitudes toward death and dying. The advent of new medical technologies, catastrophic illnesses (like AIDS) and the enormous costs involved in caring for those who are terminally ill have put pressure upon society to define laws that are more clear about whether or not it is morally ethical to allow euthanasia. There are different forms of euthanasia but the two main distinctions made are whether the physician takes an active role in the process (known as active euthanasia), or if he opts for a passive role (passive euthanasia). In active euthanasia the physician administers a lethal dose of drugs which end the patient’s life. This type of euthanasia is generally not sanctioned by law, but passive euthanasia is generally sanctioned by law and many within the medical community and health care services, “…passive euthanasia…involves withdrawing life support from a patient or ending a type of therapy that prolongs life so that death can occur naturally. Allowing a deadly process to continue without intervention generally is accepted when a patient is not responding to treatment and there is no possibility the patient will benefit from additional treatment” (Hupfer 1). This concept is often seen as more ethical and in line with some religious sentiments about euthanasia because it is viewed as allowing the patient to die “natu
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en to God. Of course, the moral and ethical component that comes into play is that someone other than the patient is usually placed in the position of having to make the decision over the meaningfulness or meaningless of other people’s lives. Most Christians argue that our individual spiritual mission is to help the most needy without distinction as to whether they are meaningful or meaningless. The most difficult aspect of the dilemma is whether or not the Creator has invested in humans the power and right to make such decisions, even if they euthanasia is performed because of love or care. To most Christians good motives are not enough to answer the question. However, many who favor euthanasia see their actions in ending the life of a terminally ill individual who is suffering to an extreme degree the correct action because it stops more pain and misery than if they chose not to take such an action. This kind of consequential argument is soundly rejected by the Catholic Church. In one encyclical, Pope John Paul II wrote, “Human acts are moral acts because they express and determine the goodness or evil of the individual who performs them. They do not produce a change merely in the state of affairs outside of man but, to
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Approximate Word count = 2472
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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