Euthanasia
Euthanasia is defined in the Chamber’s English Dictionary as “ the act or practice of putting someone painlessly, or as gently as possible, to death”.
There are various forms of Euthanasia, which I must explain before referring to the teachings of the different Christian denominations. The most common of them is Voluntary Euthanasia, where the patient decides for themselves, that they would prefer to be dead. They might decide at the time, or perhaps they might have written a ‘living will’ instructing doctors to kill them if they are ever in a situation where they will never be conscious again. There is also In-voluntary Euthanasia, were someone else decides against the patient’s wishes that would be better off dead, and enforces it in the act of killing them. Therefore it is often out-classed as Euthanasia, because it is not ‘gentle’. Non-voluntary Euthanasia takes place in a situation where the patient cannot be asked, or more correctly, cannot answer. This may be because the victim is a baby and can’t speak yet, or perhaps the victim is in a coma and is unable to respond to people around him, but in this case a relative or doctor will decide for the person.
It is also important to distinguish the difference between killing someone (Active), and letting them die (Passive). Killing a person is expressed in an action. An example of this, would be a doctor injecting his patient with a poison. Whereas letting someone die, is expressed in not performing an action. An example of this would be a doctor not supplying his patient with drugs that would save his life, and as a result the patient’s life is shortened.
I will set, discuss, and finally evaluate a debate about Voluntary Euthanasia using contexts from both the Roman Catholic Church, and the Church of England. Some of the key influences I will refer to are Natural Law, Situation Ethics, Doctrine of Double Effect, The Golden Rule, Church documents, and the Bible.
Ignoring all religious views, an argument for Voluntary Euthanasia performed by someone other than the patient, is that it is simply ‘mercy killing’. This would, under general Christian views, be just because it was an act of love, and after all that is what Christianity revolves around.
One question, that must be answered is, ‘Is there a difference between killing and letting someone die, when it comes to an argu...
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...f the family would suffer as a result of his death, then he should not die in an unnatural way. But, it is more likely that they will be suffering with him, and will feel the relief if he does not, and they do not have to watch him, live any longer in his painful condition. If this is the case, then they should back his feelings, and give him their support.
It has been said that although the earth does not belong to the people, God did create humans to make their own decisions on it. Therefore in the case of voluntary euthanasia, there is no doubt that the end decision must be made by the patient, and not the doctor.
If the patient is in a persistent vegetative state, then the appeal for his death, falls into the non-voluntary category, and is of no complication to my conclusion.
As I have said already, the fifth commandment is addressing the point of murdering innocent people. Murder is when one person intentionally kills another without legal justification or excuse. If euthanasia was legalised, then it would not officially be murder. In such a case, a Christian would not be violating the fifth commandment, and there would be no reason why he could not be a supporter.
Any discussion that pertains to the topic of euthanasia must first include a clear definition of the key terms and issues. With this in mind, it should be noted that euthanasia includes both what has been called physician-assisted "suicide" and voluntary active euthanasia. Physician-assisted suicide involves providing lethal medication(s) available to the patient to be used at a time of the patient’s own choosing (Boudreau, p.2, 2014). Indifferently, voluntary active euthanasia involves the physician taking an active role in carrying out the patient’s request, and usually involves intravenous delivery of a lethal substance. Physician-assisted suicide is felt to be easier psychologically for the physician and patient than euthanasia because
There are two types of euthanasia: passive and active. Passive or voluntary euthanasia refers to withholding life saving treatments or medical technology to prolong life. For example, a patient has the right to refuse medical treatment. They also have the right to refuse resuscitation if they are in need to be placed on life support. Active or involuntary euthanasia refers to providing the means for someone to take their life or assisting with taking their life (“Euthanasia” Discovering).
As a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, I feel it important to express in this essay the stand of the church on the question of euthanasia and assisted suicide. Our church has strong biblical and traditional reasons for adamantly opposing these new end-of-life approaches.
World War 1...what is it? Normally when you think about it you must be wondering how on earth am I still alive! World War 1 was also known as The Great War that took place from 1914-1918 within most parts of Europe. Within this informative essay I will be talking about the features, the results, the end, and how World War 1 changed the lives of the Europeans.
There is great debate in this country and worldwide over whether or not terminally ill patients who are experiencing great suffering should have the right to choose death. A deep divide amongst the American public exists on the issue. It is extremely important to reach an ethical decision on whether or not terminally ill patients have this right to choose death, since many may be needlessly suffering, if an ethical solution exists.
disease, or a person who is dying". the church says any law permitting euthanasia is a unjust
Ralph shows that he has a better understanding of the boys than Jack. He knows that the boys need some sort of order on the island in order for them to survive. He starts a simple form of government and sets a few rules for them. Even though they don’t last very long, the fact that he tried to help the group is what makes him a better leader. Ralph’s wisdom and ability to look toward the future also has an advantage over Jack. He has a sense to keep his focus on getting off the island. When the fire goes out, Ralph gets upset because the chance to be rescued was gone as well. Ralph enforces his role of leadership as he gives the boys a sense of stability of an authority figure. He keeps the boys in pretty good order at the meeting by making a rule that they can only speak if they have the conch. Ralph knows that the littleuns are afraid and they need shelter to feel more secure. They work together for a while, but as the time goes on the smaller boys want to go play. They slowly lose all their help until Simon and Ralph are the only ones left to work on them. Ralph knows that this is a necessity and keeps bringing it up at the meetings. Jack, on the other hand, is doing nothing but causing chaos.
According to Immanuel Kant, a person has dignity that makes him autonomous. Thus, the decision of the autonomous patient to die has intrinsic value. Because patients are rational agent, they are able to make their own decision based on reason. A rational patient will reason that if continued existence is full of suffering and no-hope for better well-being, therefore, the best option is to discontinue his/her life to save him/herself from that future condition. It is the patient’s approach to manage his/her own life. Dan W. Brock is right in his article “Voluntary Active Euthanasia” when he said that, “self-determination [or autonomy] has fundamental value… [because]… individual [can] control the manner, circumstances, and timing of their dying and death” (75). The dignity of the patient lies in their “capacity to direct their lives” (Brock 75).
The debate on whether voluntary euthanasia should be legalized has been a controversial topic. Euthanasia is defined as ‘a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering’ [1]. Voluntary euthanasia refers to the patients who understand the terms in the consent and sign up under consciousness, while involuntary euthanasia is performed against patient's wishes and some people may regard it as a murder [1].
Most importantly, the terminally ill should be able to consent to this method of suicide (Battin & Quill, 2004).
As Socrates said in Apology by Plato, “...the envy and detraction of the world, which has been the death of many good men, and will probably be the death of many more…”(Philosophical Texts, 34) Throughout history, many leaders have been put to death for their knowledge. In Apology, Socrates- soon to be put to death- says he was placed in Athens by a god to render a service to the city and its citizens. Yet he will not venture out to come forward and advise the state and says this abstention is a condition on his usefulness to the city. (36) My argument is that Socrates is of great service to the citizens of Athens, as he understands he knows nothing, he understands where he belongs, and through this
In order to lead and set direction, a leader needs to appear confident as a person and in the leadership role. Upon arrival, when the boys were appointing a leader, without hesitation, saw that "there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out… most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch… The being that had blown that… was set apart" (22). This quote reveals that although one can have a great vision and good ideas regarding the change, if one is not confident, then the action will not occur. Without action, there is no change. With this being said, Ralph knew that they had to take action considering that if they did nothing, the predicament would remain the same and then proceeded to blow the conch to signal for any fellow survivors. Ralph’s connection with the conch allows him to appear confident in the eyes of the littluns since the conch is what brought them all together. It was as if a hidden personality within Ralph had taken control saying, “‘I’m chief. I’ll go. Don’t argue’”(104). Ralph is not the one agreeing to go look for the beast; it is the chief inside of him. He knows that the littluns are depending on him to guide them, and he takes that responsibility into consideration when making it
In James Rachels’ article, “Active and Passive Euthanasia”, Rachels discusses and analyzes the moral differences between killing someone and letting someone die. He argues that killing someone is not, in itself, worse than letting someone die. James, then, supports this argument by adding several examples of cases of both active and passive euthanasia and illustrating that there is no moral difference. Both the end result and motive is the same, therefore the act is also the same. I will argue that there is, in fact, no moral difference between killing someone and intentionally letting a person die. I plan to defend this thesis by offering supporting examples and details of cases of both active and passive euthanasia.
My opponents and their followers “see it as a term of murder, killing those who are sick, infirm, or disabled, young and old alike, with or without their permission.” (Urofsky 22). They could even say that by allowing euthanasia, we could possibly be encouraging people that it is ok to end your own life when you see fit; inadvertently telling people it is okay to commit suicide. My opponent also believes that euthanasia should not be allowed as it allows doctors to play God with the lives of people who are ill.
The Christian view of Euthanasia is that it is wrong. They understand, the pain and emotional suffering, caused in the case of terminally ill, but believe that a hospice is a better solution and that to commit Euthanasia is murder and a degrading act upon human life.