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?
Despite the fact that both she and the fetus has the equal right to life, opponents of abortion would still consider it wrong to preform an abortion with reasons ranging from killing an innocent person is always wrong and is murder to one must always prefer letting a person die to killing a person. J.J. Thomson would respond to say that these reasons are all false if we consider that the mother is only preforming an abortion in order to save her own life and not for personal interests. Hence abortion should be considered morally permissible in such situations when the life of the mother is threatened by the fetus. In order to determine whether abortion is permissible in cases where the mother’s life is not in immediate danger, we should analyse whether the fetus truly has the right to live. Take for example, rape.
Which are the key points in Kantian Ethics which raises the question that maybe Kantian ethics isn’t a good approach to this? A counter argument for the above argument in support the statement that ‘Kant’s ethical theory is a good approach to euthanasia is the fact the moral value of an action comes from the action itself. This is because it’s a deontological argument. This means it’s intrinsically correct it’s not swayed by emotion. 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.
One aspect to consider about assisted suicide is the legal one. The right to die is a fundamental freedom of each person. Nowhere in the constitution does it state or imply that the government has the right to keep a person from committing suicide. After all, if the patient and the family agree it's what they want to do, whose business is it anyway? Who else is it going to hurt?
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.
Warren beings her argument by acknowledging that abortion “…usually entails the death of a fetus. ( Social and Personal Ethics: The Moral Status Of Abortion, Marry Anne Warren, Page 109)” Shockingly enough, at least to many individuals, Warren still holds firm that safe abortion is both morally permissible and under no circumstance should be illegal. Warren recognizes that it is almost futile to argue with those who believe that abortion is equivalent to murder unless it is argued that fetuses to not have the same right to life as other human beings. She does this by
Physician assisted suicide should be a right given to all people who are suffering from a painful, degenerative, or deadly condition. Anyone who might never enjoy the luxuries of living a happy and healthy life again. Though several ongoing debates are against physician-assisted suicide, ethicists are still not the one who is responsible to make this decision. Patients have the right to free will and human dignity that gives them the right to choose physician assisted suicide. Being able to have this choice allows the patient to maintain some control over their devastating situation.
Moreover, he attempts to show validity that the aborting of a fetus can, with the exception of rare circumstances of rape or serious medical condition, be represented as an equivalent serious moral wrong. Marquis further notes that laws prohibiting abortion in the U.S. did not exist until the 19th century. In his continuation of outlining premises, he avers that Anti-abortionist have the outlook that fetuses are people and abortion equates to murder. And, helping to support his claim he explains the existence and division of two mutually exclusive and contradictory groups. This dichotomy of the one and the many presents itself in the premises of the two opponents as follows: Anti-abortionist has the outlook that fetuses are people, and abortion equates to murder.
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.
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