Question

In Essay format (2-3 pages) Discuss Assisted suicide social climate / issues at the time of passage.

Answer 1

Ans) Euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of God, since it is the deliberate and morally unacceptable killing of a human person. The Roman Catholic church regards euthanasia as morally wrong. It has always taught the absolute and unchanging value of the commandment "You shall not kill"

- Assisted suicide, also known as assisted dying, is suicide undertaken with the aid of another person. The term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is suicide that is assisted by a physician or other healthcare provider. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifies under the physician-assisted suicide laws for that place, the physician's assistance is usually limited to writing a prescription for a lethal dose of drugs.

- Allowing physician-assisted suicide would be a grave mistake for four reasons. First, it would endanger the weak and vulnerable. Second, it would corrupt the practice of medicine and the doctor–patient relationship. Third, it would compromise the family and intergenerational commitments.

- Arguments in support of assisted death include respect for patient autonomy, equal treatment of terminally ill patients on and off life support, compassion, personal liberty, and transparency. When death is imminent (half a year or less) patients can choose to have assisted death as a medical option to shorten what the person perceives to be an unbearable dying process. Pain is mostly not reported as the primary motivation for seeking physician-assisted suicide in the United States; the three most frequently mentioned end‐of‐life concerns reported by Oregon residents who took advantage of the Death With Dignity Act in 2015 were: decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable (96.2%), loss of autonomy (92.4%), and loss of dignity (75.4%)

- Some non-religious arguments against euthanasia include:
• euthanasia would weaken society's respect for the value and importance of human life.
• proper palliative care is available which reduces or removes the need for people to be in pain.
• it would lead to worse care for the terminally ill.

To commit euthanasia is to act with the specific intention that somebody should be nobody. This is the fundamental error of all immorality in human relations. To commit euthanasia is to fail to see the intrinsic worth or dignity of the person. The dignity of the sick cannot be erased by illness and suffering.

- Various forms of the slippery slope argument
Health care costs will lead to doctors killing patients to save money or free up beds: Proponents say: The main reason some doctors support voluntary euthanasia is because they believe that they should respect their patients' right to be treated as autonomous human beings.