EUTHANASIA - THE EXTREME OF THE DOCTOR-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP
Almos Trif MD, PhD, JD, USA
Abstract: The article tries to bring the attention of the reader on the historical and the intellectual
background of the topic of euthanasia, differentiating its entity from the trivializing pseudo-cultural
approaches. After offering some clear short definitions for the most used terms, the author deals with the
history of the human attitudes towards Death, Dying, Suicide, Assisted suicide, and Euthanasia.
Talking about euthanasia becomes more and more difficult and risky. This is not
only because of the political environment, but also because of the sometimes violent
ways in which everyone’s religious views are openly expressed.
Recently, the deleterious effect of this uninformed discussion has become evident in
the general culture; it is the pseudo-culture coming mostly from the erroneous
information posted purposely on the web. The speculative minds of some “bogus
creators” insidiously and continuously infest the minds of the young generation, many of
whom appear to have stopped reading books, with all kind of nonsense data.
To demonstrate this I want to share with the reader three results of a “quick search”
on the already indispensable, overwhelming and “ominous” search engine - Google. At
your choice, you may easily find “information” about the Canadian music band called
“Euthanasia”, promoted through sales of more or less shockingly “cool” posters,
including photographic pranks about suicidal practices. Alternatively, looking at another
result of the same search you may find out that “Euthanasia” is a kind of Internet pseudoreligion.
The most egregious finding was the quoting of “Euthanasia” from “Uncyclopedia” the content-free encyclopedia, where it is written about the “Democratic Republic of
Euthanasia”, exhibiting a bogus flag and other bogus data, such as follows: <<National
Motto: "You are what you eat."; Official language: Engrish; Capital: Euthanasia City;
Premier: Lord High Chancellor of the Excheuary Eric Theodore Cartman; Religion:
Athiest (sic); Independence: Never; Currency: Buckazoids; National Anthem: Crazy
Frog; National Game: Half Life 2; Oscar Wilde on Euthanasia: “I thought she was
rather incontinent.”; Noel Coward on Euthanasia: “A little Euthanasia never hurt
nobody.”; George W. Bush on Euthanasia: “I approve! Who wouldn't want to be
younger?”>>
I think that such fallacious and deceitful information posted on Internet is potentially
harmful, because most of the internet consumers (surfers) are deprived of either cultural
background or of the needed time to digest the new information or of both -- making it
quite difficult for a neophyte to discern the truth.
On the other side, beside academic information on specific websites of organizations,
universities and so on, there is a genuine activism for euthanasia, expressed publicly on
debates, demonstrations, meetings, and in internet websites and “blogs”.
The activists claim the necessity of advocating for euthanasia, because they
emphasize there are still two roads to death:
The usual one – the dying patient passes progressively through the following stages:
sleepy, lethargic, obtunded, semi-comatose, comatose, and dead. The difficult road – the
dying person become restless, tremulous, experiences hallucinations and mumbles in
delirium, presents myoclonic jerks and seizures before becoming semi-comatose,
comatose and dead. Fighting against the difficult road to death makes the “subject” of
euthanasia debate.
There are some actual accepted definitions, which try to make easy the necessary
delimitations:
Suicide: individual A kills him/herself
Assisted Suicide: individual B assists (helps) individual A to kill self
Physician assisted suicide: Medical Doctor helps a patient to die
earlier,
cutting unbearable suffering
Euthanasia: individual B kills individual A who is in extreme suffering or
terminal (usually a patient)
 Voluntary euthanasia - the case when patient chooses to be put to
death because of extreme suffering: with individual A’s permission
(request), B injects a drug deemed to kill; it concerns the autonomy
of the patient, and it is called sometimes “mercy killing”
 Non-voluntary euthanasia - the case when individual A is silent
about the issue or unable to express his or her opinion, but B does
something to end his/her suffering; it is the case of very sick infants
and comatose patients who are put to death, sometimes with a
court order allowing this.
 Involuntary euthanasia - the case when B gives drug against A’s will
and kills A; patient chooses not to be put to death, and expresses
explicitly this, but is killed anyway.
The most extreme debate comes actually from another type of classification: active
and passive euthanasia.
 Active euthanasia occurs in those instances in which someone takes active means, such
as a lethal injection, to bring about someone’s death.
 Passive euthanasia occurs in those instances in which the caretaker simply refuses to
intervene in order to prevent someone’s death; the physician or the nurse lets the
patient die by withholding or withdrawing treatment.
There is also debate on the difference between the omission of withholding and the
action of withdrawal. Some scholars claim in extremis that withdrawing treatment is an
“act” similar to injecting KCl intravenously in the death penalty procedure.
Approaching the idea of “people’s rights” in the general theory of law means we have
to consider two types of rights: the Negative rights, which impose duties of noninterference on others, and the Positive rights, which impose duties of assistance on
others. Accordingly we may ask the following question: “Is there a Right to Die?”
Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) is the case when a medical doctor assists a patient
to kill him/herself. From the legal point of view, currently there are several situations in
the world:
 If there is no right to have a doctor to assist you, i.e. a negative right - no one will be
able to force a MD to do this on anyone, so PAS will be illegal.
 If in the Legal Code of a certain state or country there is mentioned a positive right
to assisted suicide, PAS may be legal in some circumstances.
 In Netherlands, PAS is legally regulated in the professional, civil and criminal law.
 In Oregon State, USA in certain specifically explained circumstances, PAS is legal.
In the case when death follows the administration of painkillers for the relief of pain
in cases of terminal illness, death is considered as a side effect. Most Catholic ethicists
hold that this is morally different from deliberate euthanasia for the relief of pain – and
they call it the “principle of double effect”. The action itself [morphine injection] must be
morally good or morally indifferent. The motive must be the achievement of the good
effect [alleviating pain] only. The effect is bad, not the means by which the good effect is
achieved. The good effect must be at least equivalent in importance to the bad effect.
For the enlightened reader who wants to know more, I would try to present a quick
travel through the history of the attitudes towards Death, Dying, Suicide, Assisted
suicide, and Euthanasia in the views of Pagans, Greeks, Romans, in different Faiths and
Religions, through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, until the Modern times.
God of Death in Greek mythology - Thanatos (θάνατος = death) was the
personification of death (Roman equivalent: Mors); Son of Nyx (Night) and Erebus
(Darkness) and twin of Hypnos (Sleep). In early mythological accounts, Thanatos was
perceived as a powerful figure armed with a sword, and possessed of a shaggy beard and
fierce some face. His coming was marked by pain and grief. In later eras, as the transition
from life to death became a more attractive option, Thanatos came to be seen as a
beautiful young man.
Asclepios in Greek Mythology was the god of medicine, son a mortal woman,
Coronis and of the god Apollo, who left the child Asclepios in the care of the centaur
Cheiron. Cheiron raised and taught Asclepios the art of healing and the pupil soon
surpassed his master for he could resurrect even the dead. This power of resurrection of
the dead enraged Hades, lord of the underworld, who was losing clientele, and he
appealed to Zeus. Zeus considered the act “hubris”, and slew Asclepios with a
thunderbolt. Afterwards realizing the good Asclepios had brought to man, the great Zeus
made him into a god. Eventually Asclepios was placed among the stars, transformed into
the constellation Ophiuchus (the serpent-bearer).
Hippocrates of Kos, ca. 460 - ca. 370 BC, considered the “Father of Western
Medicine” talks in his famous Oath about the commitment of not assisting suicide
(fragment from Harvard classics translation):
 I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such
counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce
abortion…
 Into whatever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick, and
will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption; and, further,
from the seduction of females or males, of freemen and slaves...
Socrates, 470-399 BCE, Greek philosopher has allegedly made some of the following
statements described in Plato’s Apology. “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
”Wisdom begins in wonder.” “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil,
ignorance.” Plato describes also the Death of Socrates as politically mandated. Because
Socrates questioned the men of Athens about their knowledge of good, beauty, and
virtue, he was considered supercilious, obnoxiously arrogant. His paradoxical wisdom
made the prominent Athenians he publicly questioned look foolish, turning them against
him and leading to accusations of wrongdoing. He was found guilty for corrupting the
youth of Athens, and sentenced to death by drinking a mix of the poisonous hemlock.
“After drinking the poison, he was instructed to walk around until his limbs felt heavy.
After lying down, the man who administered the poison pinched his foot. Socrates could
no longer feel his legs. The numbness slowly crept up his body until it reached his heart.”
The previous description was the inspirational subject of some famous painters: JacquesLouis DAVID (French, 1748-1825), Jean-François-Pierre PEYRON (French, 17441814).
In his 2003 book “A Merciful End: the Euthanasia Movement in Modern America”,
Ian Dowbiggin, Ph.D. states: "Many ancient Greeks and Romans had no cogently defined
belief in the inherent value of individual human life, and pagan physicians likely
performed both voluntary and involuntary mercy killings. Throughout classical antiquity,
there was widespread support for voluntary death as opposed to prolonged agony, and
physicians complied by often giving their patients the poisons they requested."
Plato, 428 - 348 BCE, Greek philosopher makes some interesting remarks about state
medicine and law towards eugenic-euthanasic practices in The Republic, Dialogues, 3.
410, translation by Benjamin Jowett, 1894, English scholar and theologian (1817-1894)
 “This is the sort of medicine and this is the sort of law, which you will sort in
your state.
 They will minister to better natures, giving health both of soul and of body.
 But those who are diseased in their bodies will leave to die, and the corrupt
and incurable souls they will put an end to themselves.
 That is clearly the best thing for both the patients and for the state!”
Aristotle, 384 - 322 BCE, Greek philosopher brings the ideas of eugenics to
public attention in Politics, Chapter IV, 7.13, translation by Bejamin Jowett 1885.
“This fault the Lacedaemonians did not fall into, for they made their children
fierce by painful labor, as chiefly useful to inspire them with courage: though, as
we have already often said, this is neither the only thing nor the principal thing
necessary to attend to.
As to the exposure and rearing of the children, let there by a law that no
deformed child should live”
Epicurus (341-270 BCE) – Greek atomist philosopher, hedonist, talking about
the “good pleasures” Hēdonē (Ηδονή) he describes ATARAXIA – bliss, which he
thinks is easy to experience if you overcome your fear of Gods and your fear of
death. He thinks that fear of death is often based upon anxiety about having an
unpleasant afterlife. This anxiety should be dispelled once one realizes that
death is annihilation, because the mind is a group of atoms that disperses upon
death. Epicurus uses the 'no subject of harm' argument in the Letter to
Menoeceus: “If death is bad, for whom is it bad? Not for the living, since they're
not dead, and not for the dead, since they don't exist.” He adds that if death
causes you no pain when you're dead, it's foolish to allow the fear of it to
determine you pain now. This idea is latter followed and developed by Lucretius.
The “art to die” in Ancient Rome is described by Yolande Grise, “Le suicide
dans la Rome Antique”, Morntreal & Paris, 1982, pp. 325: “Since suicide in Rome
was generally regarded as a legitimate means to avoid dishonor, no punishment
of any kind was attached to it. As Roman legislation under the Antonines shows
a balance was sought between a citizen’s rights to “LIBERUS MORTIS
ARBITRIUM” and safeguarding the political and economical interest of the state.“
Lex doudecim Tabularum – a code of laws published in Rome at 451 B.C. on
12 bronze tables, by the 10 members [decimviri] was stipulating the need to
sacrifice the malformed newborns as soon as possible after their birth - text
edited by Georg Bruns & Otto Gradenwitz, Tübingen, 1909.
"Ars (bene) moriendi" (the art to die the right way) was a new developed
concept, because a lot of famous personalities committed suicide to escape
political humiliation or a sentence to death by someone's authority. The thesis in
use was pretty clear: „Mori licet cui vivere non placet” – „It is allowed dying to
those who do not like to live”.
Titus Lucretius Carus, c. 99 - c. 55 BC, Roman atomist philosopher, and poet in De
Rerum Natura - On the Nature of the things [Universe] maintained the Epicurean worldview. He used the so-called ‘symmetry argument‘: anyone who fears death should
consider the time before he was born. Fear of death is a projection of terrors experienced
in life, of pain that only a living (intact) mind can feel. The past infinity of pre-natal nonexistence is like the future infinity of post-mortem non-existence. It is as though nature
has put up a mirror to let us see what our future non-existence will be like. But we do not
consider not having existed for an eternity before our births to be a terrible thing;
therefore, neither should we think not existing for an eternity after our deaths to be evil.
“We are the masters of our pains: we master those pains which are bearable, and we are
leaving the life with a happy soul, as we leave the show if we don’t like the performance,
if we cannot bear the pains”
Seneca, ca. 4 BC–AD 65 – Roman stoic philosopher, lawyer is pretty clear in his
tribulations about the values that can be saved by the arrival of death, published in “On
the happy life, Moral letters to Lucillius”, 92, 38: The wise man will apart himself from
life due to very well founded reasons: to save the patria or the friends, but also when he
is burdened with too cruel pains, in case of mutilations or an incurable sickness”. “He
will not be put to death, if the case is a sickness that may be cured and does not hurt the
soul; we will not kill anyone because of the pains, but only when the pain prevents
anything he lives for”. “No one is free who is a slave to the body. I prefer to kill myself to
feel how I progressively lose my strength and become dead being alive”. “The physicians
must deliver remedies to the sick, but to those who cannot extend their life, they will
facilitate a tolerable death”.
The Death of Seneca is described by Tacitus, in the Annals, Book XV, Ch. 60, and
proved to be quite a lesson derived from the concept “Ars bene moriendi”. Seneca the
Younger acted as Nero's advisor from 54 to 62. In 65, Seneca was accused of being
involved in a plot to kill Nero, and had to escape an assassination attempt. He went home
to commit ritual suicide, choosing to cut his wrists, but the blood was flowing slowly,
thus causing pain instead of a quick death. He took poison given to him by a friend, but it
didn't work. He dictated to a scribe, and then jumped into a hot pool. He did not try to
drown, but instead, it appears, tried to make the blood flow faster. Finally Seneca died
from suffocation from the steam rising from the pool. There are several famous painters,
who have got their inspiration from this event - Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish 1577 - 1640)
–1612 and Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch 1590-1656)
Plutarch of Chaeronea, AD 46-122, Greek philosopher & biographer was well
known from his genuine work, but also from a number of pseudepigrapha
attributed to him under the conventional name Pseudo-Plutarch. One of the most
well known is the eugenic approach of the Spartan newborns: “As soon as a child
was born in Sparta, the mother would wash it with wine, in order to make sure
that it was strong. If the child was weak, it would die soon. Later it was brought
by his father to the elders, who inspected carefully the newborn infant. If they
found that the child was deformed or weakly, they threw it into Kaiada, the so
called Apothetae, a chiasm at a cliff, of the mount Taygetos.”
Pliny the Elder, AD 23–79 – Roman author, natural philosopher, and naval
military commander wrote in his “Historia naturalis” - Book 7: Anthropology and
human physiology some very specific and today curious data:
 "Among these things, one thing seems certain - that nothing certain exists and
that there is nothing more pitiful or more presumptuous than man."
 "Because of a curious disease of the human mind, it pleases us to enshrine in
history records of bloodshed and slaughter, so that those ignorant of the facts
of the world may become acquainted with the crimes of mankind."
 “There are only three instances in which the doctor may kill the patient to
shorten his sufferance because of pain: the kidney stones pain, the great
gastric pain and the facial burning pain”.
Suetonius - AD 69 – 130, Roman historian uses for the first time in history the
term EUTHANASIA in his book De Vita Caesarum--Divus Augustus - The Lives
of the 12 Caesars (The Deified Augustus): “Octavius Augustus suddenly passed
away as he was kissing Livia,… thus blessed with an easy death and such a one
as he had always longed for. For almost always on hearing that anyone had died
swiftly and painlessly, he prayed that he and his might have a like euthanasia, for
that was the term he was wont to use.”
There were still populations who did not embrace yet Christianity, from which
it is worthy to mention the Pagan Hungarians and one the most significant events
in their history, the death of Álmos, one of the very first human characters asking
for being euthanized. His story was written in Gesta Hungarorum, the 13th
century Christian Codices. Álmos, 820 – 895, was the leader of the Hungarian
tribes 858 – 895, and father of Árpád, the founder of the Hungarian state. Álmos
strengthened the alliance between the other six tribal leaders, and successfully
kept his son Árpád in power, contrary to tribal practices. His ceremonial death
was probably caused by his self awareness of being too weak to lead anymore,
and was seen by many historians and interpreters as a personal human sacrifice,
for the benefit of the rest of the tribes, including for his son benefit.
Confucius, 551- 479 BCE, Chinese thinker and social philosopher puts great
emphasis on the doctor’s duty to help people, because saving life is regarded as
the highest virtue. In the Lunyu Yanyuan (The Analects of Confucius) he states:
“Death and life belong to destiny, and wealth and rank are determined by fate”. If
life and death are destined by fate and reflect the W ill of Heaven, they cannot be
changed by human power. Therefore, everyone should fulfill his life from birth to
death naturally. Because life is the most precious good, bringing death should be
avoided. No action that helps someone to die could be regarded as a virtuous
action.
Buddhism - around the 5th century BCE, the concept spread by Buddha Shakyamuni,
a compassionate and fully enlightened human being, skilled teacher and a miraculous
healer who could even bring the dead back to life, but he usually abstained to do this.
Buddhism is a belief that emphasizes the impermanence of lives, including all those
beyond the present life. The concept Dukkha - superficial translated with “Suffering” or
“Pain” (unsatisfactory & misleading) has a deeper philosophical meaning, enormously
wider – suggested were “Imperfection”, “Impermanence”, “Insubstantiality”. One of the
Origins of Dukkha (#2: Samudaya) is Tanha translated as “Thirst”, “Desire”, “Greed”,
“Craving”. Basically “Craving leads to Dukka”. There are several cravings Tanha:
Kama-Tanha: thirst for sense-pleasures; Dhamma-Tanha: thirst for Theories, Concepts;
Bhava-Tanha: thirst for Existence; and what makes our object of study, Vibhava-Tanha:
thirst for Non-Existence
Buddhist people belief that: “Death is not the end of life, but it is merely the
end of the body we inhabit in this life, but our spirit will still remain and seek out
through the need of attachment, attachment to a new body and new life. Where
they will be born is a result of the past and the accumulation of positive and
negative action, and the resultant karma (cause and effect) is a result of ones
past actions. This would lead to the person to be reborn in one of 6 realms:
heaven, human beings, Asura, hungry ghost, animal and hell - none of these
places are permanent and one does not remain in any place indefinitely. Life
does not end, merely goes on in other forms that are the result of accumulated
karma. W e should not fear death as it will lead to rebirth. We see our death
coming long before its arrival; we notice ‘impermanence’ in the changes we see
around us and to us in the arrival of aging and the suffering due to losing our
youth.”
Judaism uses several texts for extracting rules for approaching the moribund
patient. Life is valued above almost all else in Judaism, and there is the idea that
all people are descended from a single person. Taking a single life is like
destroying an entire world, and saving a single life is like saving an entire world.
Because life is so valuable, we are not permitted to do anything that may hasten
death, not even to prevent suffering; therefore the Code of Jewish Law Yoreh
Deah, Chapter 339 prohibits suicide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.
In the Talmud, it is mentioned that “Death in itself is a natural process, not a
tragedy, even when it occurs early in life or through unfortunate circumstances.
Our deaths, like our lives, have meaning and are all part of God's plan. In
addition, we have a firm belief in an afterlife, a world to come, where those who
have lived a worthy life will be rewarded.”
The Mishna Smachos Chapter 1 has the first five Halachas dedicated to the
moribund patient: “1. A dying man is regarded as a living entity in respect to all
matters in the world…; 2. W e do not tie up his check-bones or stop-up his
apertures…; 3. W e may not move him, or place him on sand or salt until he dies;
4. W e may not close the eyes of a dying man. W hoever touches and moves his
is a murderer. He can be compared to a lamp which is flickering…; 5. We do not
rend the garments or bare the shoulder, or deliver a eulogy, or bring the coffin
into the house until he dies.”
However, where death is imminent and certain, and the patient is suffering,
Jewish law does permit one to cease artificially prolonging life. Thus, in certain
circumstances, Jewish law permits "pulling the plug" or refusing extraordinary
means of prolonging life. (Igros Moshe – Choshen Mishpat II: 73 A)
Moses Maimonides, a.k.a. Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon,1135-1204, MD, theosophical
philosopher left a very impressive work, from which I would like to quote only The Oath:
“May I never see in the patient anything but a fellow creature in pain. Grant me
the strength, time and opportunity always to correct what I have acquired, always
to extend its domain; for knowledge is immense and the spirit of man can extend
indefinitely to enrich itself daily with new requirements. Oh, God, Thou have
appointed me to watch over the life and death of Thy creatures”. The as well
famous "Daily Prayer of a Physician" attributed to Maimonides, which appeared
in print in 1793 was probably a fake written by Marcus Herz, a German physician,
pupil of Immanuel Kant, and physician to Moses Mendelssohn.
Islam prohibits mercy killing as shown in the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad:
“My subject hastened his end… I (God) deny him paradise”. The word for
“physician” in Arabic is Hakim, which stands also for “wise person” and
“philosopher”, and there is a famous quotation stating: “A philosopher may heal
only the soul, while a physician can heal both the body and soul”.
Avicenna, 980 - 1037 AD, Tajik, the most famous scientist and physician of Islam
writes: “After death, the reasonable soul attains perfection. To effect this, it must become
conscious and intelligent, and receive within it the form of harmony and well-being which
pervades the world of superior essences. It unites with this idea of perfection, and so
becomes like it. Only the soul which has been prepared by the practice of the virtues
enjoys this happiness. Otherwise its taste is vitiated; it cannot attain its end, and
accordingly suffers. But if a man has lived a mediocre life, his actions never reaching the
height of his intentions, his soul, when freed from the body, becomes the centre of a
struggle between his pure desires and his bad habits. Only when purified by this grievous
struggle does it attain perfect bliss.” (Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, II,
263)
Christianity emphasized the concept of “Sanctity of Life”. Accordingly, Life is a gift
from God, and respect for life is a “seamless garment”. Therefore Life should be spared,
not destroyed, and ministering to the sick and dying is extremely important. One of the
most famous Christian scholars Saint Thomas Aquinas, 1225 – 1274, philosopher,
scholastic theologian a.k.a. Thomasso D’Aquino, Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Universalis,
father of the Thomistic school of philosophy wrote about the “Principle of Double
Effect” during the discussion of the permissibility of self-defense. He makes clear that
killing one's assailant is justified, provided one does not intend to kill him. “Nothing
hinders one act from having two effects, only one of which is intended, while the other is
beside the intention. … Accordingly, the act of self-defense may have two effects: one, the
saving of one's life; the other, the slaying of the aggressor.” (Summa Theologica (II-II,
Qu. 64, Art.7). The analogy with the occurrence of the unintended death produced by the
administration of painkillers comes directly from there.
Thomas More (1478-1535) English lawyer, author, and statesman wrote in his
exceptional work Utopia, about end of life issues, as follows:
 “Though they are compassionate to all that are sick, yet they lament no man's
death, except they see him loath to depart with life; for they look on this as a very
ill presage, as if the soul, conscious to itself of guilt, and quite hopeless, was
afraid to leave the body, from some secret hints of approaching misery.
They think that such a man's appearance before God cannot be acceptable to
him, who being called on, does not go out cheerfully, but is backward and
unwilling, and is, as it were, dragged to it.
They are struck with horror when they see any die in this manner, and carry
them out in silence and with sorrow, and praying God that he would be merciful
to the errors of the departed soul, they lay the body in the ground; but when any
die cheerfully, and full of hope, they do not mourn for them, but sing hymns when
they carry out their bodies, and commending their souls very earnestly to God:
their whole behavior is then rather grave than sad, they burn the body, and set
up a pillar where the pile was made, with an inscription to the honor of the
deceased.” Utopia, BOOK II: OF THE RELIGIONS OF THE UTOPIANS, 1516
Francis Bacon, 1561-1626 - English lawyer, statesman, essayist, defender of the
scientific revolution is apparently the first who used the word “Euthanasia” in modern
times in the chapter Science advance, IV, 2 of the book “The New Organon” or “True
Directions concerning the Interpretation of Nature”. Organon is the Greek word for
“instrument” or “tool”. It is a clear reference at Aristotle’s work “The Organon”. Bacon
is trying to say that he is supplying a new instrument for guiding and correcting the mind
in its quest for a true understanding of nature. He quotes from Suetonius actually:
“I estimate that the medical profession duty is not only to restore health, but
also to diminish the sickness pains and torments; and not only when such pain
mitigation, like that of any other pathologic symptom, helps and drives to the
recuperation, but also when, being nonexistent any recuperation hope, helps to
leave life more easily and equitable.
Since it is not a small happiness the one which moved Caesar Augustus to ask
for the euthanasia; it is similar to the one seen in the death of Antoninus Pius,
who it looked that he did not died but he fell in a deep and pleasant sleep…
But in our times, doctors assume like a scruples and religion case to be near
the patient when he is dying. But, in my opinion… they should acquire the skills
and to pay attention to the way by which the dying could abandon life more easily
and silently.
I call to these the investigation upon the external euthanasia or the body easy
death (to distinguish from the euthanasia that looks for the soul preparation)”.
Jeremy Bentham, 1784-1832, British jurist, philosopher, and social reformer took the
utilitarian hedonistic position: “A good death is a painless death”. No two people are the
same, no two crimes are the same, and it is the duty of the law to accommodate such
variables before inflicting pain, in the name of the state, for the protection of itself and
other citizen members of that state. The pains resulting from capital punishment, and
more particularly from the widespread threat of capital punishment, were judged to be
considerable and excessive. ("Critique of the Doctrine of Inalienable, Natural Rights,")
John Stuart Mill, 1806-1873, British philosopher and political economist promotes
the utilitarian eudemonistic position: “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to
promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By
happiness are intended pleasure and the absence of pain.” “A man who has nothing for
which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal
safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so
by the exertions of better men than himself.” “The only freedom which deserves the name
is that of pursuing our own good, in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to
deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.” “A person may cause evil to
others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly
accountable to them for the injury.” ("Speech In Favor of Capital Punishment" - given
before Parliament on April 21, 1868 in opposition to a bill banning capital punishment
that had been proposed by Mr. Gilpin)
Immanuel Kant 1724-1804, German philosopher from Königsberg in East Prussia
(now Kaliningrad, Russia) assessed that human beings were distinctive from other
beings: they have the ability to reason and the ability to decide on the basis of that
reasoning. He defines autonomy as the ability to impose reason freely on oneself.
Because human beings have the ability to make up their own minds in accord with the
dictates of reason, they have certain rights. If someone has a right, we have a correlative
duty to respect that right. The Kantian imperative states: “people cannot be treated like
mere means to an end”.
Thomas Percival, 1740-1804 was an English physician who could be proud
that Voltaire and Diderot were amongst his friends. Percival issued an
outstanding piece of work called “Medical ethics or a code of institutes and
precepts, adapted to the professional conduct of physicians and surgeons” In the
book published in Manchester, in 1803, printed by S. Russell for J. Johnson and
R. Bickerstaff, he stated: “A Physician should be the Minister of Hope and
Comfort to the Sick”. Percival isolated several self-evident causes for death in
that time - poverty, malnourishment and lack of public hygiene. He made specific
proposals for the more detailed and accurate keeping of official death records.
Carl Friedrich Heinrich Marx, a medical student wrote his Doctoral thesis in
Göttingen - De euthanasia medica, "Medical Euthanasia“stating some of the following
ideas:
"W hat good will it do the incurable patient to apply dangerous and dubious
therapeutic measures? The entire plan of treatment will here confine itself within
symptomatic and palliative medication.”
"… and least of all should he be permitted, prompted either by other people's
requests or by his own sense of mercy, to end the patient's pitiful condition by
purposely and deliberately hastening death. How can it be permitted that he who
is by law required to preserve life be the originator of, or partner in, its
destruction?" (Cane W: "Medical euthanasia": A paper published in Latin in
1826, Translated and reintroduced to the medical profession, J Hist Med Allied
Sci 1952; 7:401-16) quoted by ROBERT U. MASSEY, M.D. - When the Time for
Heroics Has Passed - REFLECTIONS ON MEDICINE
For clarification purposes: the other very famous Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) was too
young in 1826, and earned his doctorate only in 1841 with a thesis titled The Difference
Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature, from FriedrichWilhelms-Universität in Berlin, and submitted his dissertation to the University of Jena.
George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish playwright, 1925 Nobel Prize for
Literature may be famous, but few people know that he said in an interview the
following: “As soon as life becomes a burden to the community, the State must
be unsentimental and dispose of its lunatics, its criminals and misfits. The means
however must be humane.” (Remarks to the author 1940s in Stephen Winsten,
“Days with Bernard Shaw”, 19, 1949)
Alexis Carell, 1873 - 1944, French surgeon, biologist and eugenicist, 1912
Nobel Prize in Medicine, unfortunately wrote extremely harsh statements in his
essay “L'Homme, cet inconnu” (Man, The Unknown), published in 1935, as
follows:
"The conditioning of petty criminals with the whip, or some more scientific
procedure, followed by a short stay in hospital, would probably suffice to insure
order.
Those who have murdered, robbed while armed with automatic pistol or
machine gun, kidnapped children, despoiled the poor of their savings, misled the
public in important matters, should be humanely and economically disposed of in
small euthanasic institutions supplied with proper gasses.
A similar treatment could be advantageously applied to the insane, guilty of
criminal acts."
Albert Einstein, 1865-1965, Alsatian medical doctor, theologian, and musician, who
was awarded the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize is the creator of the modern times philosophy of
"reverence for life“. He is known to have written: “Let me give you a definition of ethics:
It is good to maintain and further life; it is bad to damage and destroy life”. (Religion
and Modern Civilization, part 2, Christian Century, 29 November 1934)
James Rachels, 1941-2003, American utilitarian philosopher expressed his quite
shocking original ideas as following:
1. If we allow passive euthanasia, we should also allow active euthanasia.
2. There is no moral distinction between ‘killing and simply allowing another to die.
3. Active euthanasia is more humane than passive euthanasia.
4. If there is no doubt that the patient will die soon:
 Passive measures will not bring about the death of the patient;
 Passive measures will not enhance the remaining life of the patient;
 Passive euthanasia may cause significantly more pain for the patient, and often more
family sufferings than active euthanasia.
It is possible that future debates will continue this cascade of ideas, until specific laws
will be passed.