The quality of life of the patient is one of the main issues with euthanasia. If someone can communicate and is not in unbearable pain then euthanasia would be wrong but if someone can not communicate and is in unbearable pain then most people would agree euthanasia is the best option.
The Baptist church in the UK teaches that euthanasia is much like abortion and raises the same sort of issues – if people have the right to choose to take away a human life or not. Generally the Baptists are against euthanasia as they believe that all human life is sacred. Although Baptist will usually agree that when a person is ‘brain dead’ and medical experts agree that the patient has no chance of recovery, then it is acceptable to stop treatment and allow the person to die.
The Church of England agrees that the sanctity of life is important but agrees that doctors do not have to do everything to keep a patient alive, no matter what the quality of life is. The church also stresses that it is important to make the old and the ill feel valuable and to make the old feel important as members of society
The Roman Catholic Church is extremely against euthanasia and teaches that anything that purposely brings death is murder; it is fine that some drugs which are intended to relieve pain can also shorten life as this is thought of as acceptable. The Roman Catholic
Zoë Wood
Church says that ‘ordinary’ treatment such as feeding the patient has to continue but ‘extraordinary’ treatment like a major operation that probably wont work, doesn’t have to be given. The church strongly feels that the sick deserve and need special care.
Biblical teachings used in a discussion about euthanasia may be.
“God made man his own image”. This means that human life is a gift form god. It is sacred and has dignity. We only live because god wants us to so we shouldn’t choose when people can die. We should wait and let god choose.
“After sunset all who had friends who were sick with various diseases brought them to Jesus. Jesus placed his hands on every one of them and made them well”. This shows Jesus took the time to care for the sick. He was happy to care for them and never ignored their needs. So we should care for people instead of just killing them or making a decision to let them die.
Christians may discus euthanasia with other people, maybe a priest or another Christian or even a non believer to see peoples different view points. They may go and join a ‘pro-life’ organisation. Also sometimes their beliefs may affect the way they vote in an election as one party may believe euthanasia is right but another party may believe euthanasia is wrong, if the person has very strong views about euthanasia this could affect there voting decision. Also they might take part in ways to show there opinions against euthanasia, this may be shown as a protest or a demonstration.
“Euthanasia can never be justified”
I disagree with this as I believe euthanasia should be allowed. If somebody is in so much pain with a terminal illness they don’t want to live anymore they should be allowed to die peacefully with dignity. Also if somebody is going to waste away I feel they should be allowed to die so they can say goodbye to friends and family while they are still capable to. I think that the British government should legalise euthanasia but have stick rules such as only a qualified doctor is allowed to administer the drugs etc, there has to be two doctors in the room as they administer the drugs and there has to be a signed agreement from the family or if possible the patient and the family. Christians tend to disagree with this as they believe only god has the right to choose when people die as he created each and every one of them.