Introduction of Euthanasia

Euthanasia is is the practice of ending the life of a terminally ill person in a painless or minimally painful way, for the purpose of limiting suffering.

Euthanasia may be conducted with or without consent. Involuntary euthanasia is conducted against someone’s will and equates to murder. This practice is almost always considered wrong and is rarely debated. Involuntary euthanasia can be administered when the person is incapable of making a decision and it is thus left to a proxy. One recent example of non-voluntary euthanasia is the Terri Schiavo case. This is highly controversial, especially because multiple proxies may claim the authority to decide for the patient.

Pros For Euthanasia

• Choice: Proponents of VE emphasize that choice is a fundamental principle for liberal democracies and free market systems.
• Quality of Life: The pain and suffering a person feels during a disease, even with pain relievers, can be incomprehensible to a person who has not gone through it. Even without considering the physical pain, it is often difficult for patients to overcome the emotional pain of losing their independence.
• Economic costs and human resources: Today in many countries there is a shortage of hospital space. The energy of doctors and hospital beds could be used for people whose lives could be saved instead of continuing the life of those who want to die which increases the general quality of care and shortens hospital waiting lists.
• Moral: Some people consider euthanasia to be just another choice a person makes, and for moral reasons against it to be undue influence by others.
• Pressure: All the arguments against voluntary euthanasia can be used by society to form a terrible and continuing psychological pressure on people to continue living for years against their better judgement. One example of this pressure is the risky and painful methods that those who genuinely wish to die would otherwise need to use, such as hanging.
• Sociobiology: Currently many if not most euthanasia proponents and laws tend to favor the dying or very unhealthy for access to euthanasia. However some highly controversial proponents claim that access should be even more widely available. For example, from a sociobiological viewpoint, genetic relatives may seek to keep an individual alive (Kin Selection), even against the individual's will. This would be especially so for individuals who are not actually dying anyway. More liberal voluntary euthanasia policies would empower the individual to counteract any such biased interest on the part of relatives.

Religious Factors of Euthanasia

Religious policies

Roman Catholic policy

The Catholic policy on euthasia rests on several core principles of Catholic ethics, including the sanctity of human life, the dignity of the human person, concomitant human right, due proportionally in casuistic remedies, the unavoidability of death, and the importance of charity. he most important official Catholic statement is the 1980 Declaration on Euthanasia issued by the Sacred Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith.

In Catholic medical ethics, official pronouncements tend to strongly oppose active euthanasia, whether voluntary or not, while allowing dying to proceed without medical interventions that would be considered "extraordinary" or "disproportionate." Though the Church tends not to use the term, this policy might be equated to a limited form of passive euthanasia, although Church statements can be ambivalent. The Declaration on Euthanasia states that:

"When inevitable death is imminent... it is permitted in conscience to take the decision to refuse forms of treatment that would only secure a precarious and burdensome prolongation of life, so long as the normal care due to a sick person in similar cases is not interrupted."

The Declaration concludes that doctors, beyond providing medical skill, must above all provide patients "with the comfort of boundless kindness and heartfelt charity".

Protestant policies

Protestant denominations vary widely on their approach to euthanasia and physician assisted death. Since the 1970s, Evangelical churches have worked with Roman Catholics on a sanctity of life approach, though the Evangelicals may be adopting a more exceptionless opposition. While liberal Protestant denominations have largely eschewed euthanasia, many individual advocates and euthanasia society activists have been Protestant clergy and laity. As physician assisted dying has obtained greater legal support, some liberal Protestant denominations have offered religious arguments and support for limited forms of euthanasia.

Jewish policies

Not unlike the trend among Protestants, Jewish movements have become divided over euthanasia since the 1970s. Generally, Orthodox Jewish thinkers oppose voluntary euthanasia, often vigorously,though there is some backing for voluntary passive euthanasia in limited circumstances. Likewise, within the Conservative Judaism movement, there has been increasing support for passive euthanasia (PAD). In reform Judaism responsa, the preponderance of anti-euthanasia sentiment has shifted in recent years to increasing support for certain passive euthanasia (PAD) options.

Non-Abrahamic religions

In Theravada Buddhism, a monk can be expelled for praising the advantages of death, even if they simply describe the miseries of life or the bliss of the after-life in a way that might inspire a person to commit suicide or pine away to death. In caring for the terminally ill, one is forbidden to treat a patient so as to bring on death faster than would occur if the disease were allowed to run its natural course.

Ethical Theory - UTILITARIANISM THEORY

Euthanasia should not be encourage because based on the Utilitarianism theory which define as actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. Euthanasia is reject the important value of life. In religion, most of them disapprove of Euthanasia because they think that it is religiously wrong, some of them even absolutely forbit it. From Evangelium Vitae, cited in Religion & Ethics 2007 have said that “life, especially human life, belongs only to God, for this reason whoever attacks human life, in some way attacks God himself.” No one can simply end their life by themselves, however, they have an obligation to go living and even have to live in a better life. Besides that, Euthanasia also against the law of many countries, only a few of countries legalized the Euthanasia. This is because most of countries count Euthanasia as a type of murder, committed suicide or even the mercy killing.

As a human, life is very important. Before doing any wrong things, we must think carefully so same with Euthanasia, human must think more and do not be too selfish only care about their own. They should think about the feeling of their family and relatives, if they decided to have Euthanasia. If a country legalized the Euthanasia, not only the terminal ill person will have Euthanasia but also those who are not “terminally ill”. This will shows that government ought to override or pre-empt the individuals and family’s values, religious beliefs or wishes.

As a conclusion, Euthanasia is a controversial issue for the public and it is acceptable under certain circumstances, but it is our firm stand that Euthanasia should not be encourage and should be banned as it weakens society’s respect for the sanctity of life.

Example of Euthanasia

1. OSTRACISED INDIAN AIDS COUPLE APPEALS FOR EUTHANASIA:

A couple in Ramgarh, India suffering from AIDS has asked for permission to allow them and their daughter die through Euthanasia as they were being stressed in their village. In the appeal, he said he was fed up with villagers which beating them frequently and police not acting on their complaints. Actually Euthanasia is seen as illegal in India. He added that they are tired because of the deadly disease and atrocities of the villagers. The villagers enter their house and beat them and wanted to throw them out of their house.


2. EUTHANASIA BACK IN SPOTLIGHT:

Sep 3, 2007, A man is expected to appear in court after allegedly giving his terminally ill mother high doses of morphine. Suspicions first arose after the woman died at a rest home this year. Australian euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke says charging the man is a sad example of why there needs to be a law change for what he describes as “mercy killings”. He hopes to have supporters at the man’s depositions hearing at the Taumarunui District Court.

Cons of Euthanasia

1. Euthanasia would not only be for people who are "terminally ill." Now they already extend euthanasia to those aren’t “terminally ill”. There are many definition for the word “terminal”. Some law define “terminal” condition as one from which death will occur in a “relatively short time”. Others state that death is expected within six months or less. However some euthanasia activists have dropped references to terminal illness, replacing them with such phrases as "hopelessly ill," "desperately ill," "incurably ill," "hopeless condition," and "meaningless life."

2. Euthanasia can become a means of health care cost containment.
"...drugs used in assisted suicide cost only about $40, but that it could take $40,000 to treat a patient properly so that they don't want the "choice" of assisted suicide..." ... Wesley J. Smith, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute.
Euthanasia could become a means of cost containment in such a climate which is emphasis on health care providers to contain cost. Legalized euthanasia raises the potential for a profoundly dangerous situation in which doctors could find themselves far better off financially if a seriously ill or disabled person "chooses" to die rather than receive long-term care. Savings to the government may become a consideration because this could let governments cut back on paying for treatment and care and replace them with the “treatment” of death.

3. Euthanasia is a rejection of the importance and value of human life.
With Euthanasia no one's life is being saved - life is only been taken. From the history, we already know the dangers of Euthanasia and that is the reason why only two countries made Euthanasia to be legal. Almost all societies, even non-religious ones have made Euthanasia as a crime.