Suicide Essay Research Paper PhysicianAssisted SuicideKathleen M

Suicide Essay, Research Paper

Physician-Assisted Suicide

Kathleen M. Foley, author of Competent Care for the Dying Instead of Physician-Assisted Suicide,

believes doctors should develop treatments for the physical and psychological problems of dying patients

rather than helping them commit suicide. Available data suggests most physicians do not receive training

in the care of dying patients. Dying patients experience physical symptoms such as pain, psychological

problems such as anxiety and depression and existential distress (described as the experience of life without

meaning.)(1) many of the physical and psychological problems can be treated. Furthermore, legalization

of physician-assisted suicide may deter physicians from developing treatments that could enhance the dying

patient’s quality of life.

Euthanasia by definition means “a gentle and easy death”, “the good death of another” or “mercy

killing.”(2) There are two types of euthanasia currently recognized, active and passive euthanasia. Active

euthanasia is the taking of one’s own life, or being killed, for example, by lethal injection. Passive

euthanasia is taking one’s life with the assistance of another or just being allowed to die. In passive

euthanasia we simply refrain from doing anything to keep the patient alive, for example, refusing to

perform surgery, administer medication, give heart massage or use a respirator and let the patient die from

whatever illness is already present. It is important to understand the difference, because many people

believe that active euthanasia is immoral and passive euthanasia is morally all right. They believe that we

should actually never kill patients, but sometimes it is all right to let them die.

The main issue then is it morally permissible to kill or let someone die who is going to die soon anyway,

at the person’s own request, as an act of kindness?

Throughout history, many people have thought that the distinction between active and passive euthanasia

is morally important: and many of those who condemned active euthanasia raised no objection against

passive euthanasia. Even by people who believed killing to be wrong, allowing people to die by not

treating them was thought in some circumstances to be all right. Even before Christ, Socrates was quoted

as saying, ” …bodies which disease had penetrated through and through he would not have attempted to

cure…he did not want to lengthen out good-for-nothing lives.”(3) In the centuries that followed, both the

Christians and the Jews viewed allowing to die in circumstances of hopeless suffering, morally permissible.

It was killing that they adamantly opposed.

The Pope, stating the position of the Catholic Church, said “it is acceptable to allow the patient who is

virtually already dead to pass away in peace.”(4) In a statement published in 1982, the American Medical

Association echoes the feeling of the Catholic Church saying, ” we remain firm on our stand against mercy

killing, but allowing patients to die (in some circumstances) is all right.”(5) So it seems, there is

widespread agreement that passive euthanasia is morally all right (in at least some cases), but active

euthanasia is much more controversial.

In essence what we seek is whether euthanasia active or passive is moral, or whether it is immoral. To

discover the truth we must examine the arguments or reasons that are given for or against it. If the

arguments in favor of euthanasia are persuasive and the arguments against

it can be rejected, then it is morally acceptable. And likewise, if after careful analysis we find a strong

case against euthanasia, we would have to conclude it to be immoral. I think this is true not only of

euthanasia, but of any moral issue.

The single most powerful argument in support of euthanasia is the argument of mercy. The main idea of

this argument is simple. Terminal patients sometimes suffer pain far beyond our comprehension. This

suffering can be so terrible that we cringe at the descriptions of such agony. The argument for mercy says:

Euthanasia is justified because it puts an end to that. It is not important to give gory details of the suffering

of the terminally ill, but it is important to keep these visions vividly imprinted in our minds so we can

appreciate the full force of the argument for mercy. If a person prefers and even begs for death as the only

alternative to lingering on in this kind of torment, only to die anyway after a while, then surely it is not

immoral to help this person die sooner. As Stewart Alsop (a respected journalist) stated prior to his death

from a rare form of cancer in 1975, “No human being with a spark of pity could let a living thing suffer so,

to no good end.!

” (6)

In the case of voluntary euthanasia, great suffering is eliminated, and since the patient requests it, there is

no question of violating that individuals human rights. If an action promotes the best interests of everyone

concerned,

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