EUTHANASIA: Should euthanasia be legalized?

John Alcon D. Jerao

April 2020
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Introduction

Euthanasia is one of the most debatable issues of our times from medical, ethical and

religious point of view. The word Euthanasia originates from the Greek word euthanatos which

means an easy death or Good Death and its pronunciation is \ˌyü-thə-ˈnā-zh(ē-)ə\. It is also

known as Mercy Killing or Physician-Assisted Suicide (1). In Arabic it is called ‫ﺔﲪﺮﻟا ﻞﺘﻗ‬/ ‫ﻞﺘﻗ ﺔﲪﺮﳌا‬.

Therefore it is defined as "The painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and

painful disease or in an irreversible coma"(2). Medically it is defined as: “The act or practice

of killing hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a

relatively painless way for reasons of mercy; also : the act or practice of allowing a hopelessly

sick or injured patient to die by taking less than complete medical measures to prolong

life—called also mercy killing”(3). With the emergence of materialism and industrial

revolution, the debate for the legitimacy of euthanasia started and the materialistic

purposes were in guise of humanism and mercy.

1. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/euthanasia.

2. "Euthanasia". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. April 2010. Retrieved 26

April 2011.

3. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/euthanasia.
Introduction
Euthanasia (also known as mercy killing) should not be considered a form of
assisted suicide. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are different and should
never be confused. Euthanasia is the practice of ending one’s life. Doing so
may be caused by an incurable disease or extreme suffering. Euthanasia is
performed on patients that no longer have a chance to live and who are
suffering extreme pain. It is my opinion that euthanasia should be legal, but
only when it ends the suffering of a person who does not have any chances
of living. Prolonging the life of the individual will only prolong his suffering.

https://writemypaper123.com/examples/euthanasia.htm

What is death according to Aristotle?

In the Nicomachean Ethics he says that death is 'the most fearful thing', and he also says

that fear always has as its object things that are without qualification bad (1115a8, 26).

Euthanasia is morally wrong?

To commit euthanasia is to fail to see the intrinsic worth or dignity of the person. The

judgement that what has worth, intrinsically, somehow does not have worth, is both logically

and morally wrong.

Virtue of ethics: https://slideplayer.com/slide/3910343/

Philosopher say about euthanasia

http://www.alevelphilosophy.co.uk/handouts_ethics/EuthanasiaRelativismAbsolutism.pdf

http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/18453/1/18453.pdf

Ethics of euthanasia

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/overview/introduction.shtml

Euthanasia can be classified in different ways, including:

Active euthanasia - where a person deliberately intervenes to end someone's life

Passive euthanasia - where a person causes death by withholding or withdrawing treatment

that is necessary to maintain life

Euthanasia can also be classified as:

Voluntary euthanasia - where a person makes a conscious decision to die and asks for help to

do this

Non-voluntary euthanasia - where a person is unable to give their consent and another person

takes the decision on their behalf.

Involuntary euthanasia - where a person is killed against their expressed wishes.

Euthanasia is the termination of someone’s life, when living becomes too unbearable for one

(physically).
Introduction

Euthanasia is the termination of someone’s life, when living becomes too unbearable for

one (physically). Historically, euthanasia is an action that was decided by someone through the

help of another to end his life. More specifically euthanasia is always associated with the pain

conditions who have very severe and is no longer open hope for recovery. This subject has been

a contentious discourse in recent decades and necessarily present a new ethical debate. In

1997, the Philippine Senate considered passing a bill legalizing passive euthanasia. This can be

done as letting a patient die in piece and does not perform any action that directly cause the

death of a patient. The bill met strong opposition from the country’s Catholic Church. If

legalized the Philippines would have been the first country to legalize euthanasia. Under

current laws, doctors assisting a patient to die can be imprisoned and charged with malpractice.

To commit euthanasia is to fail to see the intrinsic worth or dignity of the person. The

judgement that what has worth, intrinsically, somehow does not have worth, is both logically

and morally wrong.

1. https://www.healthline.com/health/what-is-euthanasia

2. Wallerstein, C (1997). “Philippines considers euthanasia bill”. BMJ. 314 (7094):

1644.
Definition of Euthanasia

The word Euthanasia originates from the Greek word euthanatos which means an easy

death or Good Death and its pronunciation is \ˌyü-thə-ˈnā-zh (ē-) ə\. It is also known as Mercy

Killing or Physician-Assisted Suicide (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/euthanasia).

Euthanasia became one of the terms that are popular among medical scientist, ethicists, and

lawyers since the last half century. Today, euthanasia re-bloom discussed especially regarding

aspects of ethical-medical. Euthanasia is generally defined as; the act or practice of killing

someone painlessly suffering from untreated illnesses and painful as an act of mercy (Paola,

2010: 328).

Another definition comes from Kartono Mohamad which revealed that the meaning of

euthanasia among medical specialists is actually an act of helping someone to die more quickly

in order to free him from the suffering caused by the disease. Pressure point chosen by

Mohamad is the act of “accelerated death” performed by doctors or medical experts

(Mohamad 1992: 19).

Euthanasia can also be classified as: voluntary euthanasia, involuntary euthanasia and non-

voluntary euthanasia. Voluntary euthanasia is an act done by the patient himself or at his

request. Involuntary euthanasia is an act done without consent of the person concerned. While

Non-voluntary euthanasia where a person is unable to give their consent and another person

takes the decision on their behalf

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/overview/forms.shtml ).
The second classification type of euthanasia is based on method of execution or on action

taken, namely: active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is an act done by a

doctor which resulted in the death as a direct effect. This type of euthanasia usually done

through medication or special drug causes death. While the definition of passive euthanasia is

when a doctor does not perform any action that directly cause the death of a patient. This can

be done as letting a patient die in piece by stopping medication (Ali, 2009: 221).

In general overview of this paper, we will be dealing on how euthanasia should not be

legalized based on the observations of some philosophers in virtue of ethics. Such as John

Locke, opposed suicide, therefore euthanasia was considered suicide, regardless how much the

individual maybe struggling. Locke argued that life itself is a gift that represents an inalienable

right, which shouldn’t be taken for granted (4). In the same way Immanuel Kant believed that

us being humans has huge value itself. Our inherent value doesn’t depend on anything else,

regardless having a good life we enjoy or not. The fact that we exist, has enough value itself,

meaning we shouldn’t end our lives just because it may seem necessary or being pointless.

Suicide like euthanasia was considered an example of an action that violates moral

responsibility in Kant’s eyes. As a result, philosopher Kant believed that regardless the situation

an individual maybe suffering, euthanasia is wrong (5). But for Aristotle, a person can have a

“good” death. Death's approach serves as the testing point of a person's commitment to

developing virtuous habits or vices in their lifetime. Aristotle firmly held that in the face of

suffering or even heartbreak, to voluntarily end one's life is a cowardly act. And many people

would suggest that euthanasia should be legalize but only to those facing an incurable disease

or extremely horrible circumstances physically due to any sort of medical condition.

For example, a patient suffer from severe disease and his family also suffer financially because

of medication and medical treatment are expensive and there the euthanasia enters either it

voluntary, involuntary and non-voluntary. There is huge difference between killing people who

ask for death under appropriate circumstances, and killing people without their permission

that’s why some doctors support voluntary euthanasia is because they believe that they should

respect their patient’s right to be treated autonomous human beings and to respect the wishes

of their patients.

Christians are mostly against euthanasia. The arguments are usually based on the beliefs

that life is given by God, and that human beings are made in God’s image. Some churches also

emphasize the importance of not interfering with the natural process of death, therefore

arguments based on the quality of life are completely irrelevant. To propose euthanasia for an

individual is to judge that the current life of that individual is not worthwhile it is because life is

a gift from God, therefore no human being has the authority to take the life of any innocent

person, even if that person wants to die. Since it is morally wrong to commit suicide, it is

morally wrong to help someone to commit suicide.

This is an ethical issue because it is controversial, it is about life and death. It is an issue likely to

affect society and normative social relationship which that society believes it is its duty to

promote. Some arguments against euthanasia because they believe that it would weaken

society’s respect for the value and importance of human life and it would undermine the

commitment of doctors and nurses to save lives.

Other arguments favor in euthanasia because for them the death is a private matter and the

state should not interfere with the individual’s right to die and human beings should have the

right to be able to decide when and how they die. For example, in the United States the active

euthanasia is illegal but throughout the U.S the euthanasia is legal in Oregon, Washington,

Vermont and California it is fine for them to have a euthanasia in their society or country.

In the Roman Catholic view, euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of God, since it is the

deliberate and morally unacceptable killing of a human person. The Roman Catholic Church

regards euthanasia as morally wrong. It has always taught the absolute and unchanging value of

the commandment “You shall not kill”.

In Aristotle’s view on euthanasia, he believed that the goal of life is happiness. He cares little for

the role of the individual and their autonomy, and looks more to their social roles and

obligations. From this point of perspective, we must also take into account the fact that we

cannot experience happiness in death. Therefore, we should not go through physician assisted

suicide so that happiness can still be felt (6) because he emphasizes that the essence of ethics

that every human life has a purpose. The insightful words of Aristotle may be helpful in guiding

physicians' final decisions.” An act becomes a habit, which becomes a character which becomes

a destiny.” As all practicing physicians know too well, in the end they must live forever with

their decisions.

Utilitarianism states that an action (for example, euthanasia) is inherently good or right if it

leads overall to more good consequences than bad, with maximization of good consequences
and minimization of bad consequences. Therefore, persons who advocate the legalization of

euthanasia say it will maximize good consequences for society as a whole by enhancing the

concept of respect for the autonomous decisions of dying patients, promoting trust in doctors

treating terminally ill patients, and creating cost-effective medicine for end-of-life situations.

Concurrently, euthanasia and assisted suicide will minimize the pain and suffering of those

patients most in need.

“Death with dignity” is a movement that encourages legislatures to allow people to decide how

they want to die. Some people simply don’t want to go through a long dying process, often out

of concern of the burden it puts on their loved ones.

4. http://caae.phil.cmu.edu/Cavalier/Forum/euthanasia/background/euth/9thCircuitB.html

5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2563317/

6. https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/32919/aristotle-on-voluntary-euthanasia-

assisted-suicide

https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/medical-law/life-or-death-euthanasia-arguments-

for-and-against-law-medical-essay.php

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8141521_Euthanasia_virtue_ethics_and_the_law
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zynv87h/revision/3

dri ko mukuhag idea sa euthanasia https://www.scribd.com/doc/294552623/aristotle-heritage-

and-euthanasia

https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(11)64289-4/fulltext