What is euthanasia you might ask?It is a deliberate act undertaken by
one person with the intention of ending the life of another person to
relieve that person's suffering where that act is the cause of death.
Definitely a dark topic, am I against it, no, but this essay has both con
and pro arguments.
Allowing a terminally ill person to die is the only humane, rational, and
compassionate option. Under the European Convention on Human Rights,
the right to life and the right to private and family life should be
interpreted broadly to include decisions about the quality of life,
including decisions about death if the life is no longer of quality. On
the other hand traditional medical ethical codes have never authorized
euthanasia, even on compassionate grounds. According to the
Hippocratic Oath, 'I will give no lethal medicine to anyone if asked, nor
suggest such counsel....' In response to the Nazi holocaust, the World
Medical Association adopted the International Code of Medical
Ethics[5] in 1949, which states that "a doctor must always bear in mind
the obligation of preserving human life from the time of conception
until death." The World Medical Association[6] confirmed in its 1992
Marbella Statement that assisted suicide, like euthanasia, is unethical
and must be condemned by the medical profession.
"Data from states with legalized assisted dying, show that these
opponents of the bill's anxieties are, in any case, generally unfounded...
The main area of vulnerability for many terminally ill patients is to
excruciating, ongoing, and unrelievable pain yet if you think about
ending someone's life because they suffer, will it not stay on your
conscious?
The concept of ordered liberty implicitly recognizes the right of a
competent, terminally ill person to forgo agonizing anguish and welcome
a prompt and dignified demise. The exercise of this right is essential
to maintaining one's sense of self and physical integrity, just as the
rights protected by Court's rulings regarding marriage, family
relationships, reproduction, contraception, childrearing, and the
decision to forgo or stop receiving life-saving medical treatment are.
Despite that“do we want doctors deciding who lives and who dies? No,
we do not want that. The Declaration of Independence says that we
should have the right to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. Nothing in it says we have the right to pursue death,
nothing.”
In drawing to a close mostly physicians are for euthanasia although
some are against it. What is your opinion on this matter?
Resources:
1. Roger Crisp, DPhil Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of
Oxford “Assisted Dying and Protecting the Vulnerable,”
blog.practicalethics.oc.ac.uk
2. Helena Berger President and CEO of the American Association of
People with Disabilities “Assisted Suicide Laws Are Creating a
‘Duty-to-Die’ Medical Culture,” thehill.com
3. ACLU Amicus Brief in Vacco v. Quill American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU)
https://euthanasia.procon.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/vacc
ovquillamicus.pdf
4. Tom Coburn, MD US Senator (R-OK) Consideration of House
Resolution 2260, Pain Relief Promotion Act of 1999, gpo.gov
5. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/882334
6. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/874341