Euthanasia- Right or Wrong?

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

By Chris Appleyard

People have an interest in making important decisions about their lives in accordance with their own conception of how they want their lives to go. In exercising autonomy or self-determination people take responsibility for their lives and, since dying is a part of life, choices about the manner of their dying and the timing of their death are, for many people, part of what is involved in taking responsibility for their lives.

If voluntary euthanasia is to be legally permitted it must be against a backdrop of respect for professional autonomy. Some of the counter-arguments are concerned only with whether the moral case warrants making the practice of voluntary euthanasia legal, others are concerned with trying to undermine the moral case itself.

The word "euthanasia" literally means "good death" or "easy death". Euthanasia is the act of killing, for reasons of mercy, persons that are hopelessly sick or handicapped or injured. Consequently euthanasia is more commonly known as "mercy killing". But is killing for reasons of mercy somehow less than killing? Isn't mercy killing just a euphemism for murder?

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The issue of euthanasia is very contemporary within our culture. Advances in medical technology have enabled us to preserve and prolong human life far longer than in the past, and consequently all kinds of hard questions are being raised. Why, for example, shouldn't an old person be allowed and even persuaded to die with dignity? What's the point of dragging on the earthly existence of the elderly who have already enjoyed full and happy and useful lives? And what about hopelessly ill or injured persons of any age? Why not mercifully "pull the plug" and by-pass a great deal of needless pain and suffering? And why prolong the life of an infant who is born with major physical handicaps or severe mental retardation? Wouldn't a lot of expense and years of anxiety be avoided if such new-borns were just permitted or even "helped" to die a natural death?

Two additional concepts are relevant to the discussion of euthanasia. First, voluntary euthanasia refers to mercy killing that takes place with the explicit and voluntary consent of the patient, either verbally or in a written document such as a living will. Second, non-voluntary euthanasia refers to the mercy killing of a patient who is unconscious, comatose, or otherwise unable to explicitly make his intentions known. In these cases it is often family members who make the request. It is important not to confuse non-voluntary mercy killing with involuntary mercy killing. The latter would be done against the wishes of the patient and would clearly count as murder.

Some people think that Euthanasia is un-ethical and it goes against the teaching of all religions. Euthanasia is in most countries, treated as either murder or suicide. Murder would be when a doctor, for example, overdoses the patient at their request. This leads to the intentional death of the patient caused by the doctor, and is against the law. Euthanasia is treated as suicide when the person in question terminates their own life, by this we mean that the person in question carries out the termination of their own life, by, for example, an overdose.

When a person wishes to carry out Euthanasia when they have a terminal illness, the arguement is that even if they have a small amount of time to live, a cure may be found. The person could then be saved and live a normal and happy life once again.

Here are some biblical passages relating to euthanasia;

Genesis.1; 26-27: Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Exodus 20:13 ‘honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder.

Job 1:21 He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

All these passages suggest that God is the one with can only give and take away life, so no human should attempt this, as it would be classed as murder

However there is another side of the matter, is euthanasia ever right? Most people when they come of age are now dependant on others to provide for them, either the state or other family members. They know this can place tremendous strain financially on their family and feel that if this strain is out of the way, the family will be better off. This is then were the person uses euthanasia to relieve the pressures on others, not necessarily to put themselves out of their misery or pain.

The second argument is that a person may be in un-bearable pain or have a disease, which cannot be cured. People then opt for Euthanasia as they have no other choice, if they are in un-bearable pain they will be drugged most of the time and their remaining time on earth will be a haze, and people with an in-curable disease become depress and opt for Euthanasia or feel they are just taking up space.

In these circumstances I believe euthanasia is right, as personally I think people should be able to have the right to die, if they are in so much pain, that the cant go on. It would be silly to prolong death in these cases, so even though God can give and take life, I agree with the statement that euthanasia is right in some circumstances even though most arguments are against it, including the scriptures.