What is Euthanasia?

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 Euthanasia is a term that means assisted suicide. A more common used term to define it is a ‘mercy killing’. People who suffer incurable diseases such as motor neurone and other paralysing diseases are the ones that are seen to benefit from this phenomenon. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the issue as the negative side of the debate see it as murder and inhumane while the affirmative side believes it is inhumane to let a person suffer.

  There are two types of euthanasia and they are voluntary and involuntary euthanasia. Voluntary euthanasia is when the person gives consent that they want to be euthanised.  Involuntary euthanasia is when the person is incapable of making the decision so a doctor of family member is to decide. This is when euthanasia is conducted without consent.

  The act of euthanasia is broken up into two different procedures which are active and passive. Active is when a lethal injection is used to euthanize a person whilst passive is to withhold treatment that is keeping them alive. Other then the great debate of whether euthanasia should be legal or not, there’s also the argument about the moral difference between active and passive euthanasia.

    Active euthanasia is seen as cruel because somebody is actively killing another human being. However there are arguments to support this procedure. ‘If one simply withholds treatment, it may take the patient longer to die, and so he may suffer more than he would if more direct action were taken and a lethal injection given. 

   This fact provides strong reason for thinking that, once the initial decision not to prolong his agony has been made active euthanasia is actually preferable to passive euthanasia, rather than the reverse.’ (Rachels 1975). The argument against this point is that a person isn’t given the right to cause of death. ‘At the centre of the distinction between killing and allowing to die is the difference between physical causality and moral culpability. On the one hand, to bring the life of another to an end by an injection is to directly kill the other--our action is the physical cause of death. On the other hand, to allow someone to die from a disease we cannot cure (and that we did not cause) is to permit the disease to act as the cause of death.’ (Callahan 1995).

    There will always be strong opinions about euthanasia that argue both sides of the case. The subject does create a sense of moral panic in society and that’s why legalising it in most parts of the world. 

References

Callahan, D. (1995). Vital Distinctions, Mortal Questions: Debating Euthanasia and Health Care Costs. In: Moreno, J.D Arguing Euthanasia: The Controversy Over Mercy Killing, Assisted Suicide, And The "Right To Die". New York: Simon & Schuster.

Rachels, J. (1975). Active and Passive Euthanasia. The New England Journal of Medicine. 292, p.78-80.

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Video:
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