Euthanasia CS301 Should voluntary assisted death be legalized?

This presentation deals in nearly all fields of Legal, Professional, and Natural Human Ethics.

Ken Shimauchi 2010

Euthanasia has been in use for thousands of year, its root meaning comes from the Greek term Eu(Happy) and the term thanatos(death), meaning “Happy Death”. There is ongoing controversy and debate whether or not euthanasia should be legalized in the United States .

Euthanasia is a very generalized term for a painless death. Typically, euthanasia is divided into subfields which are broken down circumstantially.

• • Voluntary Euthanasia: Euthanasia by consent! (2) cases of voluntary.

• Passive- Passive euthanasia is the denial of treatments which would be necessary to sustain one’s life. In other words, life saving medicines would be discontinued in order to bring about death-voluntarily! This is considered passive, in that, the doctor is not directly involved in administrating death causing medicines.

• Active- Active euthanasia is the use of lethal substances which results in death. The individual may use devices to his or her own will to induce death voluntarily. Ex. A button which can be depressed by the individual which administers a death causing poison. Some doctors were engaged in active euthanasia, and some have been convicted of murder for doing so(Dr. Kevorkian, was sentenced to 8 th years in prison). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6EAMD6NS9U Involuntary Euthanasia: Euthanasia conducted without consent is termed involuntary euthanasia. Involuntary euthanasia is conducted where an individual makes a decision for another person incapable of doing so. EX. One has the power of attorney and decides that the individual should be taken off of a life support system, or in cases of prolonged comma or in cases were the power of attorney was given authority and instructed to carry out such a task during such a circumstance.

Moral Codes

• • • • • • •

The Taboo of Euthanasia

Religious views have shaped morality, ethics and therefore law, as a result, euthanasia is not practiced in many countries. Few Examples Christianity: Your body isn’t yours its property of god.(1Corinthians 6:19-20).

Islam: Do not kill (or destroy) yourself(Qur’an4:29).

Hindu: Urge against the practice due to the damage it creates to ones karma.

Orthodox Church: opposes euthanasia Nearly all religious groups, forbid euthanasia.

• • What is interesting to note is that even with the large diversity in the world the majority embrace a moral value which bans the use of euthanasia from being practiced.

In the examples sometimes these religions are referenced as hard universalism, in ethics.

Ethical views of Euthanasia

(Consequentialism, Deontology, Virtue Theory)

Consequentialism Deontology

• Recall, that utilitarianism is the concept of maximizing pleasure or happiness over that of pain.

• Euthanasia can not possibly induce any form of pleasure by the individual, or by the aggregate society as a whole. It could be debated, however, if minimizing pain could include death?

Ex.

The individual is suffering terribly and would be better off feeling nothing!

• • An action is moral if its in agreement with the moral rules of the society. Euthanasia fails in most cases simply because most society adopts a morality which feels its immoral. This is not true in Oregon, where “assisted suicide is practiced”.

Lastly, there is no moral code that exists that fosters the ideology that self termination is the right and moral thing to do even if you are suffering a ill fate.

Ethical view of Euthanasia

Virtue Theory

[I]f virtue theory is described as a moral right if the individual is acting in a manner which is in accordance with what a “good model citizen” would do then euthanasia can never be considered as the morally right thing to do. Aristotle also applied this concept to a manner of function. If the function of a pen is to write, then a good pen would be one that writes well. So if the function of a human is to thrive and flourish in well being, then a morally good human would be one that is fulfilled. (Aristotle’s Moral Theory). Consented self-termination can not produce any enrichment in ones life or society… •

Conclusion

In concluding whether or not euthanasia should be legalized, I would have to say that nearly all normative theories of ethics would say that it is the morally wrong thing to do. Further, even if they did legalize euthanasia I think it would be difficult to find a health care practitioner who would engage in assisting one to their own death, as it is often in contrast with the principles of Medical Ethics. However, from a libertarian view, your body is your property and you should have the right to do what ever they want with their bodies. They would argue what criteria is needed in order for euthanasia to be considered ethical?

Bibliography

Eye To Eye: Assited Suicide(CBS News) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6EAMD6NS9U Wikipedia Euthanasia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia Justice Whats the Right Thing To Do?

, “Micahel J. Sandel”,Farrar, Stratus and Giroux. NY.2007