Examples Of Passive Euthanasia

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Recommended: A Defense Of Active Euthanasia

Euthanasia is a way that can help those who do not want to suffer or those who want it to be over quickly and with no pain. Does everyone have the right to die? “Many believe that killing someone is morally worse than letting someone die” (Rachels, 229). Many will say that God created us, and we should not take the easy way out, but rather was die slowly. Others believe that it is up to the person who is in pain whether they want to take an easy way out by an injection. In this paper I will discuss Passive Euthanasia and Active Euthanasia and James Rachels and Bonnie Steinbocks opinions on the subject. There will also be personal experiences as well as which between Passive and Active Euthanasia I believe has a stronger argument. Passive Euthanasia …show more content…

In other words, such as Do Not Resuscitate (DNR), life support, and the right to refuse. An example of Passive Euthanasia is the Terri Schiavo case. Schiavo was a young woman who collapsed, and the oxygen was cut off from her brain. She had severe brain damage and was unable to communicate. She even had a feeding tube to sustain her life. Schiavo was only alive since she had a tube in to continue to feed her. Her husband, Mr. Schiavo, claimed that Terri Schiavo would not want her life to be prolonged, so he insists on the removal of the tube. Terri’s parents do not want the tube removed because they believe that their daughter will be able to recover. In the end of the case Terri’s tube was removed and she was starved to death. With this case it was all since Terri’s husband Mrs. Schiavo claimed that Terri would not have wanted to have her life prolonged. Which in the end is why I believe the tube was removed …show more content…

The Smith and the Jones cases. “Smith and Jones would be in line of a large inheritance if there was something to happen to their younger cousin. In scenario one Smith waits for his younger cousin to take a bath. Smith sneaks into the bathroom and drowns the boy. He then proceeds to arrange it as though there was an accident. In scenario two, Jones waits for his cousin to take his bath. Jones sneaks into the bathroom to try to drown the boy but before he could the child slips and hits his head. The child was drowned accidently by himself. Instead of helping his cousin Jones lets his cousin drown.” (Rachels, 229). Smith ended up killing his cousin to get the inheritance. While Jones did not kill his cousin, he just watched him die while not doing anything. Jones did the deed without killing his cousin. Rachels says that between both men there is no moral difference. They let their cousin die to have personal gain while in the end having the same view. Both, Jones and Smith did not have good intentions. There is no moral difference between an action which causes death (Smith), and an inaction which directly allows death to occur (Jones). The actions between Smith and Jones are morally wrong. When comparing the Smith and Jones cases to euthanasia today there is little that is similar. With Smith and Jones, they had intentions to harm the boy (killing or letting him die), as where euthanasia is the intentions

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    ...in the cases of Sarah and Naomi were different than the motives of a doctor in the case of active and passive euthanasia. If the goal of a doctor is to end the suffering, active euthanasia is, indeed, a quicker and therefore more humane way to do so. The objection simply argues against the concept of letting die, illustrating the differences in the motives of Mary and Sarah. The objection does not argue that killing someone is morally worse than letting someone die, nor does it make any implications as to why letting an individual die is of greater good than killing him/her. Because this objection fails in this way, it does not have an astounding effect on the argument or changes the main point. Regardless of the situation with letting an individual die, it can still be argued that is it morally equivalent to killing an individual, leaving Rachels’ argument intact.

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    590). Therefore, Nesbitt claims there is a moral difference between killing and letting die. Nesbitt argues the difference thesis: that killing is morally worse then simply letting someone die (Nesbitt, p. 590). Nesbitt uses claims against Rachels to argue that in fact that killing is worse than letting die. Nesbitt states, "It would be generally accepted, I think, quite independently of the present debate, that someone who is fully prepared to perform a reprehensible action, in the expectation of certain circumstances, but does not do so because the expected circumstances do not eventuate, is just as reprehensible as someone who actually performs that action in those circumstances" (Nesbitt, p. 591). With this being said, someone who is prepared to do a wrong action in expectations of something, but does not do so because the expectations do not occur as a result is just as wrong as someone that performs the wrong action. Yet, Nesbitt claims that this does not provide strong enough evidence that letting someone die is as blameworthy as killing someone. Lastly Nesbitt states, "[W]hich is to say that killing is indeed morally worse than letting die" (Nesbitt, p. 593). Altogether, Nesbitt opposes that there is no moral differences between killing someone and letting

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