PRO EUTHANASIA

 People have the right to die: Human beings have the right to die when and
how they want to

In...cases where there are no dependants who might exert pressure one way or the
other, the right of the individual to choose should be paramount. So long as the
patient is lucid, and his or her intent is clear beyond doubt, there need be no further
questions.

The Independent, March 2002

 If the dying process is unpleasant, people should have the right to shorten it,
and thus reduce the unpleasantness.

CONTRA EUTHANASIA

• Religious objections

Religious opponents disagree because they believe that the right to decide when a
person dies belongs to God.

• Secular objections

Secular philosophers put forward a number of technical arguments, mostly based

on the duty to preserve life because it has value in itself, or the importance of
regarding all human beings as ends rather than means.

 People also have obligations - to their friends and family, to their doctors
and nurses, to society in general

These obligations limit their rights

These obligations do not outweigh a person's right to refuse medical treatment that
they do not want

But they do prevent a patient having any right to be killed

But even if there is a right to die, that doesn't mean that doctors have a duty to kill,
so no doctor can be forced to help the patient who wants euthanasia.

 If an action promotes the best interests of everyone concerned and violates

no one's rights then that action is morally aceptable. In some cases,
euthanasia promotes the best interests of everyone involved and violates no
one's rights. It is therefore morally aceptable
  euthanasia may deprive both the person who dies and others of benefits,
euthanasia is not a private act - we cannot ignore any bad effects it may
have on society in general.

 Why is death a bad thing?

because human life is intrinsically valuable

because life and death are God's business with which we shouldn't interfere

because most people don't want to die

because it violates our autonomy in a drastic way

 People don't usually want to die

People are usually eager to avoid death because they value being alive, because
they have many things they wish to do, and experiences they wish to have.

 Each person has the right to make decisions with aspects related to his life,
including his death.

Terminal patients may have feelings of worthlessness.

The cost of maintaining a patient in a terminal state.

Euthanasia is a compassionate act to help die with dignity. Helping a person who is
suffering die is better than keeping it alive when it is known that death can no
longer be avoided.

 Cons:

Euthanasia is a phenomenon that begins as an exception and ends up becoming a

normal alternative, thus committing abuses, as in cases where depression is used
to euthanasia. (See cases Tine Nys and Nathal Verhelst in Belgium.)

The medicine has countless drugs to control pain. This way you can try to manage
the pain without taking the life of a person (palliative care)

It is threatened against the sacramentality of life. It is considered a suicide or

homicide.