slide one: The term, “euthansia” is often connected to putting a family pet to sleep, but
euthansia is often used to end human life as well. The true definition of euthansia is the
practice of ending the life of a patient to limit the patient's suffering. The patient in question
would typically be terminally ill or experiencing great pain and suffering. Euthansia comes
from the Greek word meaning “eu'' (good) and “thanatos” (death). The idea behind it instead
of condemning someone to a slow, painful, or undignified death, euthanasia would allow the
patient to experience a relatively “good death.” There are many different types of euthansia
including active euthansia which is actively killing a patient with lethal injection, passive
euthansia (not providing medical assistance - DNR), voluntary, involuntary, self-afflicted,
mercy killing which usually refers to active, involuntary or nonvoluntary, other-administered
euthanasia. In other words, someone kills a patient without their explicit consent to end the
patient’s suffering, or physician assisted euthansia. There are various different views on
euthansia from a religious and ethical perspective which I will get into.
slide two: First it is important to know who is affected by euthansia and who are the
stakeholders? Anyone that is terminally ill or is experiencing great pain, physically or
mentally, could see euthansia or assisited suicide as a viable option for them. Whether that
may be a family member, grandparent, friend, neighbour, member of your school or church,
as long as euthansia is legal in that country (which it is in canada), they could be seen as
stakeholder. Even though euthansia may seem like a far fetched idea for some, I can relate to
it personally when my grandpa chose this path back in January. He was in a great amount of
pain and was given a few weeks to live. For him the pain was excruciating and euthansia was
an easy choice for him. However, even in his own family, there was contrasting views on his
assisted suicide. In Canada, euthansia or the MAID program was legalised in 2016, however
in the United States, euthansia is only legal in Oregon, Washington D.C., Hawaii,
Washington, Maine, Colorado, New Jersey, California, and Vermont.
slide three: There are many legal and ethical issues surrounding euthansia that include that
euthansia is homicide (killing another person is considered murder, even if the intention is to
"ease the pain", even if the person has a terminal illness), euthansia is incompatible with
palliative care because according to the World Health Organization is that palliattive care
"intends to neither accelerate nor postpone death”, the borderline abuse in the countries of
where euthansia is legal, the right to die implies the so-called duty to kill (The so-called
"right to die " (for the patient) implies the duty to kill (for someone else, in this case the
doctor), euthansia devalues lives, the medical personnel may suffer some personal
conflictions but it is their duty to uphold, it encourages vulnerable people to end their life,
euthansia has raised the suicide rate, and euthansia could be seen as a economical method of
so called “treating” the terminally ill (The cost of poisons used for causing death by
euthanasia is about $ 50 per injection, while a chemotherapy treatment costs thousands of
dollars).
slide four - Doctors are against Euthanasia because it goes against their ethical beliefs and no
person would want to end another person’s life during their work day. As one doctor said…
“I am a physician. Part of my job is to help people die in comfort and with dignity. But I do
not want to help you, or your daughter, or your uncle commit suicide. You should not want
me to. I urge you to oppose physician-assisted suicide: it represents bad ethical reasoning,
bad medicine, and bad policy.” We strongly support the right of patients to refuse treatments
and believe physicians have a duty to treat pain and other symptoms, even at the risk of
hastening death. But empowering physicians to assist patients with suicide is quite another
matter—striking at the heart not just of medical ethics, but at the core of ethics itself. That is
because the very idea of interpersonal ethics depends upon our mutual recognition of each
other's equal independent worth, the value we have simply because we are human”
Slide five - First social justice principle: Care For All God’s Creation
We can show our respect for our Creator by our stewardship of creation. All human life is
sacred and valuable because we are made in the image of God and our part of His creation.
When we are told to care for all God”s creation, we are not just told to care for the world
around us, but to show love towards ourselves and others. Saying that we are created in His
image, does not mean we look like Him, but that people have a unique capacity for rational
existence that enables them to see what is good and to want what is good. If you were to see a
plant that is sick and dying, would you just go and kill it? No, you would provide the plant
with extra care because this is what the Lord instructs us to do. The same applies to human
life, birth and death are part of life processes which God created, this means we should
respect them.
Slide six: Second social justice principle: Life and Dignity of The Human Person
The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human
person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. This belief is the foundation of all the
principles of our social teachings. This is the social justice principle that is most violated by
euthansia. When euthansia is considered for an individual, it is implying that their current life
is not worthwhile. A judgement like this goes against recognizing the worth and dignity of
the life that is going to be taken away. Arguments that are based on quality of life become
irrelevant. No one has the right, even yourself, to deem your life worthless and to be taken
away. Assisted dying violates the sanctity of human life. Other social justice principles
include rights and responsibility that tells us that The Catholic tradition teaches that human
dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are
protected and responsibilities are met.
Slide seven: There are many lobbyists and online websites that are trying to raise awareness
on euthansia. The Euthansia Prevention Coalition is a group of people whose purpose is to…
● Enforce laws and ethical guidelines prohibiting euthanasia
● Educate the public on palliative care/hospice
● promote improvement in the quality and availability of hospice / palliative care, and
effective methods of controlling pain and suffering.
● Educate the public on the harm and risks of euthansia
● To represent the vulnerable and advocate for them
Their main arguments fall under three categories;
● The action of euthanasia offends them and their beliefs
● Euthanasia can be seen as a slippery slope
● Pain can be alleviated
Slide eight: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
6:19 saying or do you not know
Paul called great attention to this verse because this verse shows how sinning with our bodies
is different than other sins, immorality defiles the temple God made through His creation of
us
that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,
Paul references that our body is the temple of the holy spirit and that the temple is a place of
worship. The proprietor of the temple of the body of the believer is the Holy Spirit, “who is in
you.” Our bodies, therefore, belong to God and are not for our disposal.
“Whom you have received from God”
We have received our lives from God Himself as a gift and He calls us to live through Him
Ultimately this bible passage tells us that we have no right to end our lives because God lives
through us, it is His temple. We should be showing respect towards our lives and ourselves,
and not ending the life God graciously gave us.
Slide nine: Exodus 20:13
Exodus tells us to not kill. Do not kill others, do not kill animals, plants, and this includes
yourself. Euthansia is the murder of onself on someone else’s hands which violates one of the
10 commandments God left for us. He believes life is too sacred to be diminished before your
time is up, because he has a purpose for you, all of us. Euthansia goes against this completely
and does not help to uphold the dignity and worth your life has.
Slide 10: catechism of catholic church
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has a very strong view on euthanasia.
2277 Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to
the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable. Thus an act
or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering
constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the
respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into which one can fall
in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be
forbidden and excluded.
This tells us once again that euthanasia is morally unacceptable and should never take place
because it does not show respect for our Lord and ourselves.
Slide 11: next steps and final remarks
As a whole, I believe that we should all try to be more educated on this topic and educate
others as well. It is our duty to uphold the worth and dignity of our own lives, but also
promote this to others. If you know someone who is considering euthansia, educate them on
other possible options such as palliative care or hospice which we have looked at in this class.
However, even though the church holds a strong opinion on assisted suicide/euthansia, it does
not make it a cowardly act or make you a bad christian or person. Those who experience the
type of pain to want to go through with assisted suicide, typically do not want to die, but just
to escape from the unbearable pain. Struggling is not a personal shortcoming or a sign of
weakness and should never be seen that way.
Slide 12: video