Natural Law Theory Of Euthanasia

More than likely, a good majority of people have heard about euthanasia at least once in their existence. For those out there who have been living under a rock their entire lives, euthanasia “is generally understood to mean the bringing about of a good death – ‘mercy killing’, where one person, ‘A’, ends the life of another person, ‘B’, for the sake of ‘B’.” (Kuhse 294). There are people who believe this is a completely logical scenario that should be allowed, and there are others that oppose this view. For the purpose of this essay, I will be defending those who are for euthanasia. My thesis, just by looking at this issue from a logical standpoint, is that if someone is suffering, I believe they should be allowed the right to end their

There are various terms used for this topic area so to clear up any misunderstanding of the meanings, I will give the definitions of those terms. First, the term Euthanasia is Greek for “good death” and “is the act or practice of ending the life of a person either by lethal injection or the suspension of medical treatment.” (Legal-Dictionary) Under the big umbrella term of euthanasia there are the following terms: 1) “Voluntary Euthanasia is the

According to Merriam-Webster euthanasia can be defined as “the act or practice of killing hopelessly sick or injured individuals […] in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy”. Don’t allow yourself to confuse euthanasia with Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS), there is in fact a slight difference. Physician-Assisted Suicide is

To fully understand the issue at hand, one must understand the various forms of euthanasia. The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition defines euthanasia as “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals…in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy.” Euthanasia can be either passive or active. Passive euthanasia occurs when a patient is relieved of medical treatment and is allowed to die naturally. Active euthanasia occurs when either a physician or a family member actively takes the life of the patient, perhaps through lethal injection, and eliminates a natural death process. Many people commonly use the word “euthanasia” to refer to assisted suicide. Essentially, assisted suicide is a form of active euthanasia in that a person, usually a physician, aids in the suicide of a patient.

Euthanasia, as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is considered to be, “the act or practice of killing someone who is very sick or injured in order to prevent any more suffering” (2015).Within this can be found different methods of euthanasia including passive or indirect euthanasia which requires withholding of basic life-saving measures such as oxygen, nutrition, hydration, or resuscitation. Another form is direct euthanasia which can be caused by administered drugs, injections, or suffocation. In its entirety, euthanasia has been debated as an ethical issue through its many forms and reasoning (Methods of euthanasia, 2011).

For a long time, euthanasia was considered a taboo subject. No one liked to talk about it because of how wrong it seemed to be. Today, it still is a relatively taboo subject, however, it is started being accepted in more places over time. To start off examining this broad topic, one should ask themselves, what is euthanasia? According to dictionary.com, euthanasia is ?the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, a person or animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition.? Euthanasia is closely related to physician-assisted suicide. These two terms are mostly used interchangeably. However, one key difference between the two is that while euthanasia is mainly withholding extreme medical measures, physician-assisted suicide is defined as ?a situation in which a physician provides the means of death for a gravely ill patient but the patient takes the final step.? (dictionary.com) So in all reality, while these two terms are used interchangeably, physician-assisted suicide is taking it one step farther because the physician provides the means for the patient to die.

The term euthanasia is derived from the Greek word, meaning “good death”. Diaconescu (2012) also mentions that euthanasia is compassionate killing to relive the pains of a person whose death is inevitable due to an incurable disease. According to the Canadian Criminal Code section 241:

Taking the word euthanasia literally means “a good death” (Cavan 7). The definition of euthanasia is “the act of killing or permitting the death of sick or injured individuals (Cavan 12). The topic of euthanasia has become a very large debate ethically and legally. Only 3 states in the U.S. have made euthanasia legal since 2004 (Issitt and Newton). A man by the name of Dr. Jack Kevorkian also known as “Dr. Death” assisted in over one hundred and thirty euthanasia cases. He was eventually charged with second degree murder and out in prison (Pearson). The Ancient Greeks used methods like euthanasia before we ever did. They allowed any suicides to happen. The only thing was the doctors could not give out deadly poison to citizens (Doubissin). These doctors also took what is know as the hippocratic oath. This says that a doctor will not give nor suggest harmful medicines to patients (Pearson). Many people believe assisted suicide is acceptable in cases of terminal illness, but it is morally wrong and considered murder.

According to Webster’s dictionary the term euthanasia Is defined as, “ the act or practice of killing someone who is very sick or injured in order to prevent any more suffering.” Now then there are two primary types of euthanasia according to Rachel’s. We have Passive Euthanasia in which the physician does nothing to bring about the death of the patient. By this physician doing nothing, ceasing treatment, the patient dies of the illness he already was diagnosed with. The patient dies of natural causes. The doctor is therefore letting the patient die. Then we have Active Euthanasia were the physician does something to bring about the death of the patient. The physician gives the terminally ill patient a lethal injection therefore now making the doctor the

The ethical issue is Euthanasia, there are many groups that support or oppose this issue. Euthanasia is the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. The different viewpoints are based around whether it is humane to assist someone in dying and whether it should be illegal for someone to assist the death of someone who has a terminal illness and are suffering incurable pain. Groups that oppose the issue generally believe that it is inhumane to end someone 's life early, these groups generally believe these people should be given care and as much comfort as possible until their last days. Groups that support the issue generally believe that if someone has lost their mental state or are suffering unbearable pain that cannot be cured, that they should be allowed the option of euthanasia because it is inhumane to make someone suffer unbearable pain if they do not need to. An ethical issue brings systems of morality and principles into conflict, ethical issues are more subjective and opinionated and generally cannot be solved with facts, laws and truth. Euthanasia is an ethical issue because there are two equally unacceptable options. It is considered wrong

According to Webster’s Dictionary, Euthanasia is “conceding painless death to a patient who is considered to be hopelessly ill, because of a non-curable disease”. The term is used to refer to the act of deliberately taking the life of a sick person, especially those who are sick from terminal illnesses. Patients in this category are normally those who are nearing their death from a persistent terminal illness and medicine does not to have much effect on them. Different scholars hold different opinions on whether to legalize the practice. Some stage a very strong that attempt to justify euthanasia. They argue that it is a common practice in the US and that it serves to end a person’s suffering and save the family members a lot of emotional

The philosophical theories and ethics of two philosophers, Aristotle and Kant, offer two differing views on the morality of euthanasia. Margaret P. Battin’s “Euthanasia: The Way We Do It, the Way They Do It” offers three countries’ perspectives on and laws regarding euthanasia and/or physician assisted suicide, as well as evaluations and critiques of their policies. To determine which of these points of view has the most pertinence, all of these arguments will be outlined and consequently analyzed, both separately and in relation to each other. Their differences and similarities will be enumerated and described, consequently their merit will be discussed. Ultimately, Aristotle’s moral theory centering around eudaimonia will be shown to be superior to Kant’s categorical imperative, because of its flexible nature when evaluating the acceptability of euthanasia under different circumstances.

There are several reasons for the opposition of euthanasia. The first I would like to discuss is Natural Law. The argument is that killing ourselves goes against our very nature. I also think being in excruciating pain for the remainder of a short life is not very natural. What is natural is the want, rather the need to end such pain. If there is no hope of extending life without constant suffering, continuing on in such a manner is nothing but self-inflicting punishment. Natural Law has granted us free will, which brings me to the next point.

Active euthanasia is commonly confused with physician assisted suicide. Physician-assisted suicide is performed “when a physician, at a rational request of an adequately informed, competent patient who plans to commit suicide, knowingly provides that patient with the medical means…and the patient uses those means to commit suicide” (Gert). Through this method, a physician does not “actively” kill the person, but simply provides the person with the means to end their own life. For example, a doctor gives a patient an injection of a morphine that is sufficient to cause their death, but does not administer it. In the other hand, a physician “actively” kills a patient to end his or her suffering in active euthanasia. For instance, a physician either overdoses the patient with pain-killers or sleeping pills. Although they are done differently, they both have the same purpose of ending a person’s suffering and pain.

First of all, what is euthanasia? It is something that not many people think about until they or a friend or family member is put in a position where they might actually have to consider it. Euthanasia, in the dictionary, simply is: the action of ending someone’s life in a painless way. It seems pretty simple but in reality it is a lot more complicated, not only for the people involved but for the society in general as well.