Louise Blacklock

Centre No. 17637

Christianity Coursework

Title 2

a)(i)What is euthanasia?

Euthanasia is often described as “assisted suicide”, but this is not technically correct as there are many different forms of euthanasia. Euthanasia is an action that brings forward the time of death because a person is ill or in a lot of pain and dying will relieve them of the pain, also known as mercy killing. This is usually done with the person’s knowledge or in some cases relatives or doctors may perform euthanasia without the person knowing.

There are many types of euthanasia, for example Voluntary Euthanasia. This is when euthanasia is performed because the dying person has asked for it. An example of this is a woman dying of cancer asking doctors to give her a drug that will kill her. There is also Involuntary Euthanasia. This is when euthanasia is performed without the dying person being told. This is usually carried out when the patient is in a coma.

There is also Passive Euthanasia. This is when doctors give painkilling drugs to ease the patient’s pain but do nothing to save the patient. There is also Active Euthanasia and this is when doctors give a patient a drug to take away the pain knowing that the drug will also kill the patient. Both these types can be combined with Voluntary or Involuntary Euthanasia to form Passive Voluntary Euthanasia, Active Voluntary Euthanasia, Passive Involuntary Euthanasia and Active Involuntary Euthanasia. When euthanasia is performed in the knowledge of the patient it is classed “voluntary”. When euthanasia is performed without the patient’s knowledge it is classed “involuntary”.

In Britain there are no laws dealing directly with euthanasia. Currently it is covered by the laws forbidding murder. Murder is punishable by life imprisonment, but test cases regarding euthanasia have often reduced the charge to attempted murder or manslaughter.

The final type of euthanasia is known as Compulsory Euthanasia but this type is illegal in all countries of the world. This is when a person must be killed because they have a certain illness or have reached a certain age. Imagine that there is a law stating that a patient must be destroyed because they have reached a certain age. This example shows why Compulsory Euthanasia is illegal in all countries.

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(ii) Explain what Christian teachings might be used in a discussion about euthanasia.

There are many teaching found in the Bible that can be used in a discussion about euthanasia. Some of them are for euthanasia while others are against euthanasia. The Bible talks a lot about the sanctity of life. The Bible explains that life is pure and holy and when the word sanctity is used to describe life it expresses the idea that life is the most precious thing.

“God created Humans, male and female he created them”, (Genesis 1:26). This teaching explains that life is ...

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