The Pros And Cons Of Euthanasia

Before commenting on James Rachels’ view, let me start with the definition of active and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia occurs when the medical professionals, or another person, deliberately do something that causes the patient to die. Passive euthanasia occurs when the patient dies because the medical professionals either don't do something necessary to keep the patient alive, or when they stop doing something that is keeping the patient alive eg., to switch off the life-support machines, disconnect a feeding tube etc. According to the above definition, there might be differences between the two, however, if we discuss the topic in a moral aspect, the two kinds of euthanasia are the same, only contrast in their nature. To a large extent, I agree with James Rachels’ view.

Killing and letting die has no moral importance. Some philosophers have argued that common sense is wrong about this. The Equivalence Thesis can support my stance, which says that killing and letting die are equally bad. The idea behind the Equivalence Thesis is not that every individual case of letting die is equally as bad as every individual case of killing. Take an ordinary murder as example, eg, a man stabbed an old woman to death after snatching her purse on the streets , if we compare an ordinary murder with the actions of a physician who humanely authorize a suffering patient to die, the murder is, no doubt much worse. Secondary reasons may have to do with the effects of the patient’s death on others. Nevertheless, it is also bad to let someone die, and the reason behind is that, if the person ends up dead, the effect for both the patient and other related party is the same. Thus it appears that killing and letting die are equally bad.

Swi...

... middle of paper ...

...t on their practices. Of course, most doctors are not now in the position of being pressurized in this matter, for they do not regard themselves as merely going along with what the law requires. Rather, in statements such as the AMA policy statement , they are in favor of this doctrine as a standard of medical ethics. In that statement, active euthanasia is condemned not merely as illegal but as "contrary to that for which the medical profession stands," whereas passive euthanasia is approved. However, the above arguments suggest that there is really no moral difference between the two .So, whereas doctors may have to discriminate between active and passive euthanasia to satisfy the law, they should not do any more than that. In particular, they should not give the distinction any added authority and weight by writing it into official statements of medical ethics.