Discourage Euthanasia

Slide 2-3

evidence that the number of euthanasia cases has stabilized over the past six years with
improvements in palliative care
Alternative treatments are available, such as palliative care and hospices. We do not have
to kill the patient to kill the symptoms. Nearly all pain can be relieved.

 provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms;

 integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care;
 offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death;
 offers a support system to help the family cope during the patients illness and in
their own bereavement;
 uses a team approach to address the needs of patients and their families, including
bereavement counselling, if indicated;
 will enhance quality of life, and may also positively influence the course of illness;
 is applicable early in the course of illness, in conjunction with other therapies that
are intended to prolong life.

b) alternatives, such as cessation of active treatment, combined with the use of effective
pain relief, are available.
“I personally feel nobody has a right to take a life when he cannot create one. Miracles do
happen, what may be considered incurable today may become curable in the near or distant
future. We should realise that medical science is still an imperfect and incomplete science,”
said the past president of the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), Datuk Dr. NKS
Tharmaseelan.

Slide 4

As applied to the euthanasia debate, the slippery slope argument claims that the
acceptance of certain practices, such as physician-assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia,
will invariably lead to the acceptance or practice of concepts which are currently deemed
unacceptable, such as non-voluntary or involuntary euthanasia. Thus, it is argued, in order
to prevent these undesirable practices from occurring, we need to resist taking the first
step.

The first of these, referred to as the logical version, argues that the acceptance of the initial
act, A, logically entails the acceptance of B, where A is acceptable but B is an undesirable
action.
the second logical form of the slippery slope argument, referred to as the "arbitrary line"
version,[8] argues that the acceptance of A will lead to the acceptance of A1, as A1 is not
significantly different from A. A1 will then lead to A2, A2 to A3, and eventually the process
will lead to the unacceptable B.
"If it is allowable at birth for children with some grave abnormality, what will we say about
an equally grave abnormality that is only detectable at three months? And another that is
only detectable at six months? And another that is detectable at birth only slightly less
serious? And another that is slightly less serious than that one?"
— Jonathan Glover, British Philosopher (use abortion as exp) when slide 4 exp. Then
slide 5 will take euthanasia as exp.
an acceptance of A will, in time, lead to an acceptance of B.
They argue there may be a "slippery slope" from euthanasia to murder, and that
legalizing euthanasia will unfairly target the poor and disabled and create incentives for
insurance companies to terminate lives in order to save money.
Prove slippery slope:

Where do you Draw the Line

Some people argue that mercy killing is okay for terminally ill adults. Other people take this
even farther and argue that terminally ill children should also be allowed to die. In Belgium,
an unhappy transgender person was allowed euthanasia. In Hitler's Germany, anyone who
wasn't mentally or physically healthy enough was euthanized. If you start, where do you
begin to draw the line?
There is no ‘right’ to be killed and there are real dangers of ‘slippery slopes’.
Opening the doors to voluntary euthanasia could lead to non-voluntary and
involuntary euthanasia, by giving doctors the power to decide when a patient’s life is
not worth living. In the Netherlands in 1990 around 1,000 patients were killed
without their request.
In September 2014, the Federal Euthanasia Commission gave convicted rapist and murderer
Frank Van Den Bleeken the right to assisted suicide. Van Den Bleeken had served decades in
prison for a 1989 crime and no longer wished to live. Over a dozen other inmates filed
similar petitions. In January 2015, the Justice Ministry acknowledged that Van Den Bleeken's
doctors recommended against euthanasia and that alternative psychological care would be
sought for him.
In fact, in Oregon, in 2013, pain wasn't one of the top five reasons people sought
euthanasia. Top reasons were a loss of dignity, and a fear of burdening others.

Slide 5

We could never truly control it. Reports from the Netherlands, where euthanasia
and physician-assisted suicide are legal, reveal that doctors do not always report it.
In addition, the option of assisted suicide for mentally competent, terminally ill people could give
rise to a new cultural norm of an obligation to speed up the dying process and subtly or not-so-
subtly influence end-of-life decisions of all sorts.

Slide 6
Opponents of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide contend that doctors have a moral
responsibility to keep their patients alive as reflected by the Hippocratic Oath.
Slide 7-8
"Hospice commits to the patient and the family that we will take care of them, to
nonabandonment... But if euthanasia becomes a standard of practice, too many times there
would be a real incentive to do it. There are some patients whose proper care requires time
and effort, professional services that aren't necessarily paid for by insurance companies. I
might say, 'There has to be an easier way.' I could too easily find myself seeing euthanasia as
the simple answer; one that is less time consuming and the least expensive. If accepted,
euthanasia could very easily take the place of proper patient care."
— Gary Lee, Medical Director of Hospice at Sacred Heart Medical Center, Eugene, Oregon
“We are living in a country with very strong religious practice in our everyday life. Mercy
kiloing is prohibited in the background of the multiple religions practised in Malaysia. Mercy killing
needs a comprehensive team for assessment. At this point of time, I doubt our health care system is
sufficient for such assessment, and our it’s against the belief of many healthcare providers, which
includes me.”

— Dr. Tan Lee Khing, Psychiatry at Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Slide n
 Suffering is part of the human condition and part of life's experience.
 Also medication can be improved to help a person's quality of life and make their
deaths as humane as possible.
 Futhermore even if a person is in a state of sedation they are still biologically existing
and still have what some would say an obligation to live their life until its natural
conclusion.
 a person would absolutely like to avoid suffering and have a relaxed life but
sometimes and mostly always things don't always turn out to be exactly like what we
want.
 We can't say that there is a life with no suffering each and every person in his life
have suffered in their life but it is how you deal with them that matters and not to
run away because you're afraid to face them or afraid that you would suffer because
they alwaus say that you will always face your biggest fears in your life.
Euthanasia is categorized in different ways, which include voluntary, non-voluntary, or
involuntary. Voluntary euthanasia is legal in some countries. Non-voluntary euthanasia
(patient's consent unavailable) is illegal in all countries. Involuntary euthanasia (without
asking consent or against the patient's will) is also illegal in all countries and is usually
considered murder.[6] Passive euthanasia (known as "pulling the plug") is legal under some
circumstances in many countries. Active euthanasia however is legal or de facto legal in only
a handful of countries (ex. Belgium, Canada, Switzerland) and is limited to specific
circumstances and the approval of councilors and doctors or other specialists. In some
countries such as Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, support for active euthanasia is almost
non-existent.
Passive and active euthanasia
Voluntary, non-voluntary and involuntary types can be further divided into passive or active
variants. Passive euthanasia entails the withholding treatment necessary for the
continuance of life. Active euthanasia entails the use of lethal substances or forces (such as
administering a lethal injection), and is the more controversial.