Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal? Dion O. Hales SOC120 Introduction to Ethics and Social Responsibility Prof. Theodore Framan June 22, 2012 Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal? While killing yourself is harder than having someone do it for you is that killing yourself requires firmer resolve, Should euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide be legal? Because a patient's last will and last testament should be honored, a competent patient's request to terminate life-sustaining treatment, and it is our moral right to prevent a person from suffering if they suffer from a disease we cannot cure. First, Should euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide be legal?
If these are indeed the rights which the state deems valuable for its citizens, then a paternalistic cause must act in support of a majority of these rights. Obviously, allowing PAS and euthanasia eliminate a patient's right to life by killing them. However, the banning of PAS and euthanasia may lead to the elimination of a patient's right to the pursuit of happiness. Happiness is not simply the state of being happy, it also is the state of not being unhappy. Happiness can be seen as a continuous scale between the state of total misery and total joy, with non-existence sitting exactly in the middle.
For example, many people against this decision claim that it is not ethical due to the fundamental tenet of medical ethics which is “Do no harm” (Bender 37).This decision is very ethical because what is not ethical is letting an innocent person die instead of taking the route of assisted suicide. If the person suffering was a relative of another person will they think twice not to because it is their loved ones suffering. By defining ethics it is related to a moral principle in which many differ from principles and standards. Another debate can be that assisted suicide is not a constitutional right. Assisted suicide is a choice which the constitution does support freedom of choice.
Is it best to take a relativist approach to euthanasia? Many would argue about what approach should be taken against euthanasia whether its absolutist or relativist and both approaches have valid arguments to support their approach to euthanasia. It is best to take a relativist approach to euthanasia as that approach will look at the circumstances the person is and will take into account what the person who wants to die is feeling and they should have a right to choose whether they want their own life to continue or not and it should not be contested if they choose that they want to die if their life is in unliveable conditions e.g. if someone’s whole body is paralyzed and cannot function without machines. However, by taking a relativist approach to euthanasia, you would be potentially killing someone and ending their future life just because at that moment they chose not to live.
Suicide is a lonely, desperate act, carried out in secrecy and often as a cry for help. The impact on the family who remain can be catastrophic. In some cases, families might have been unaware of the true feelings of their loved one; being forced to confront the issue of their illness may do great good, perhaps even allowing them to persuade the patient not to end their life. In other cases, it makes them part of the process: they can understand the reasons behind their decision without feelings of guilt and recrimination, and the terminally ill patient can speak openly to them about their feelings before their death. At the moment, doctors are often put into an impossible position.
This is good when considering euthanasia because there is bound to be a lot of emotion involved when trying to decide whether it’s wrong or right to go forward with euthanasia for the person itself or family member having to choose. Kantian ethics gives a set rules which is easy to follow and deicide if it’s right or not. On the other hand others could say that to make an action a categorical imperative it has to be universal, in other words apply to everyone in all situations, if they are not universal able they contradict the rules of nature. Euthanasia is ‘killing someone’. The maxim ‘killing someone is not by any means universal because this could lead to the whole human race being wiped out which of course will contradict laws
First, people should be able to control their own lives. If the patient doesn’t want to be tortured any more or he refuses to be the burden of his family, he has the right to choose the assisted suicide. Second, death is a compassionate way to relieve the unbearable suffering. When suffering is immeasurable and a patient's condition is terminal, doctors should be permitted to end a patient's life by the assisted suicide. It is a merciful way to end all the pain of the patient’s and the whole family’s.
Eventually some people and their families might be forced to put financial concerns above the needs of a loved one. Doctors or insurance companies could try to convince some people to opt for assisted suicide rather than the more expensive treatment. This would be an injustice to all humankind. A history professor at San Francisco State University argued that assisted suicide would lead to inequities and would not be limited to those with a terminal illness. “Given the way the U.S. healthcare system is getting increasingly unjust and even savage, I don't think this system could be trusted to implement such a system equitably, or confine it to people who are immediately terminally ill"(Mohler).
This issue is looked through many perspectives and arguments. Assisted Suicide 3 A case for assisted suicide is a powerful one, people that oppose any measures Permitting assisted suicide argue that society has a moral duty to protect and to preserve All life, to allow anyone to assist others in destroying their lives violates a fundamental Duty we have to respect human life. One case of assisted suicide that I will talk more about later was
Euthanasia should remain illegal Euthanasia is a word with such great meaning but is often misunderstood by individuals. Some define this term as “the right to die” whereas others define it as “the right to kill Euthanasia is the act of encouraging a painless death or looking for the help for a good death. The act of euthanasia often occurs because long-term patients would rather drink poison or get shot by somebody than suffering their whole life fighting against a major disease. The term euthanasia is also known as mercy killing since it’s a way of ending one’s life who is not willing to live anymore. [1] This happens usually for compassionate reasons such as to reduce the pain of the ill ones.