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Euthanasia : The intentional ending of someones life to relieve pain and…
Euthanasia : The intentional ending of someones life to relieve pain and suffering
Sanctity of life
The sanctity of life is the idea that life is intrinsically sacred or has such worth that it is not considered within the power of a human being to take away life.
A secular rationale for the sanctity if life is that us humans are lucky to be alive and you only get one life, therefore we should make the most of it and not end it early.
The sanctity of life view affects moral decision making in terms of euthanasia as the person who is suffering just wants peace and to end the pain which would be a loving thing to do/allow, yet the sanctity of life rejects any ending of a life due to its intrinsic clay/religious connotations.
Thomas Aquinas
Sir Thomas Aquinas was a catholic priest who developed the theory known as natural law; which is that all humans have a telos (purpose) within them to achieve. Aquinas' natural law theory completely disagrees with Euthanasia as many of the laws within natural law upholds the idea of the sanctity of life :
Aquinas gave 5 primary precepts which he explained must be followed in order to reach our human telos and flourish. The first precept is to preserve life, which means to save life for as long as possible.
One of the secondary precepts, which uphold the primary precepts, is to not kill. This goes against euthanasia as figuratively to euthanise someone is to kill someone, even if the person requested to be killed.
The key precept which is the syneresis Ryle is to 'do good, avoid evil'. Many would argue that ending human life is not good at al, so it should not be carried out under any circumstances.
Aquinas and followers of Aquinas' natural law would argue that euthanasia is a real good and not an apparent good. A real good is something that is actually good such as giving to charity and being kind to others, yet an apparent good is a misunderstood belief of what someone thinks is good which is in fact bad. (e.g. Andres Breivik shooting up a school because he thought that we was doing good for his country).
Reasons for voluntary Euthanasia
Progressive paralysis
When the ability to communicate or form coherent thoughts are deteriorating
when quality of life is such that life is considered not worth living
a concern that physical deterioration will at some point make it impossible to choose suicide
allows a person to enjoy life up until the point where they can no longer act autonomously in any meaningful way
Active vs passive Euthansaia
Active
A deliberate action performed by a third party to kill a person e.g. lethal injection. Often referred to as medical intervention.
Passive
the decision medical professionals make to withhold medical treatment or life support that is keeping a person alive as they are not going to get better, or the person has asked. Also known as a non-treatment decision or medical non-intervention.
Daniel Callahan's rejection of euthanasia
Believed that medicine should be used to heal physical health, not to end it.
He believed that doctors should stick to medicine and not issues of philosophy : 'Medicine should try to relieve Human suffering, but only that suffering Brought on by illness and dying as a biological phenomena'
Daniel Callahan argued that a doctor cannot possibly judge someones suffering : 'There is no objective way of measuring or judging the claims of patients that their suffering is unbearable'
Arguments for and against Euthanasia
For
Hans kung stated that the 'all-merciful God, who has given men and women freedom and responsibility for their lives, has also left to dying people the responsibility for making a conscientious decision about the manner and the times of their deaths. In this. Hans Kung is describing how God has given humans the freedom and responsibility to make a decision about the manner and time of their deaths
'Love God and your neighbour' ; euthanasia is an act of love, putting someone out of misery and in peace
Using the principle of utility; euthanasia could give resources to those who can live and heal 'greatest good for the greatest number'
Against
'If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord... we are the Lord's' Romans 14.8 - This quote is arguing that our death is in God's hands so euthanasia is effectively playing God.
Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher asked the question 'who dies in euthanasia culture? The frail, the weak, raw elderly, the handicapped, the depressed'. He argued that we should not view these people as expendable. 'The purpose of the law Is to protect the innocent and vulnerable'.
legalising euthanasia gives doctors the impossible decision to decide if patients claims are good enough
Joseph Fletcher
Joseph Fletcher developed situation ethics which states that agape(love) is the only consideration that needs to be taken when making a moral decision
Joseph Fletcher is a keen supporter of euthanasia and later served as president of the euthanasia society of America
He stated 'It is harder to justify letting somebody die a slow and ugly death, dehumanised, than it is to justify helping someone escape from such misery'
James Rachels
Arguedf that active and passive euthanasia are the same
'If you let someone die by watching them drown, then your action is morally as bad as actively drowning that person'
Passive is still doing something, it is the act of doing nothing