Question

What is your personal stance on active or passive euthanasia? In particular, what is your opinion on doctor-assisted suicide? If you were terminally ill would you consider active or passive euthanasia as an option? Please explain your thought process.

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) Euthanasia in the case of taking away life support from a morbid patient with no hope of recovery in order to give the same resources to a patient who requires it more might be slightly permissible.

In the case of active euthanasia or assisted suicide, the short answer – No. Assisted suicide should not be legal

The long answer – Since the very conception of democracy, there have been tangents to the law influenced by various axioms. Philosophy, ethics, logic and other sciences form an amalgamation of the legislature. It is at the very core of democracy to uphold that legislature.

Suicide by itself is an act that goes against philosophical and ethical concepts. This is because it is the highest measure of ethics to be ethical with oneself. Even if the victim is going through a tough time with no solution at hand, suicide becomes a new dilemma separate from the one already being faced. The cause for committing suicide and the very act of suicide share a cause and effect relationship but they are still separate elements and should be analysed individually as well. For the sake of this study, only suicide and assisting suicide is analysed.

If one discusses the implications of assisting suicide in terms of the law, the matter of human property needs to be discussed first. It is absolutely illegal to own a human (slave), in this day and age and rightfully so. Let us assume there is a person A, who owns person B. As the “owner” person A can choose to feed person B, sell person B or even put kill person B. This is because person B is the property of person A. Since slavery has been abolished, no human has the right to have a say in the matter of another human’s death. This makes any or even the slightest assistance in another individual’s suicide a legal offense.

However, the above illustration is an argument that considers the lack of free will of a human. Even if the patient were asking for it, the action would have several implications and hence many aspects would have to be considered. The level of pain, the chance of survival etc would need to be given due thought.

Even if there is a chance of the patient surviving, it takes hard medical evidence and procedure to actually approve of "pulling the plug." Euthanasia is an act that is performed in most nations after a carefully considered procedure and consent. This too is an act of moral and legal debate, however, the physical debilitation of the patient puts this situation is a completely different category. Although the result in both cases is death, but the technicalities that lead to it make all the difference.