Argument For Euthanasia

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  • Created by: lgs08130
  • Created on: 26-03-13 11:13

Argument For Euthanasia

Advantages

  • Means that people who have a bad quality of life, for example people with terminal diseases that are in constant pain, do not have to live like that any more.
  • It costs a lot of money to keep brain-dead people on life-support machines.
  • People who are brain-dead are not really alive- it is fairer to unplug them.
  • People who are paralysed or incapable of movement often do not want to live in such a helpless state, for example Tony Bland, who fought for the right to die.
  • It should be our decision whether or not we want to die.
  • Death is a private matter, so should not be contested by the state.
  • If the person wants to die, they are causing no harm to anyone and should be allowed to die.
  • It is possible to regulate euthanasia.
  • It is implied in the Human Rights act that everyone has the right to die.
  • Euthanasia is much more dignified than dying slowly of a degenerative illness.
  • Moral rules should be universalisable- you should only set down a rule if anyone can use it in similar circumstances- therefore allowing some people to euthanasia in other countries means that we should be allowed it too.
  • Christianity believes that switching off life-support machines of brain-dead people is not wrong because it alleviates suffering so is compassionate.
  • Christians follow the doctrine of double effect, which teaches that bad results can be morally okay if they are a side-effect of a good action. It can be used to justify circumstances where doctors give extra painkillers to terminally ill patients to stop their pain, even when it can shorten the persons life.

Disadvantages

  • There is often doubt about whether Euthanasia is really what the patient wants- sometimes they are too ill to make rational decisions.
  • Diseases are never 100% terminal- a cure could be found in the future, which would mean that the person died un-necessarily.
  • Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath, which means that they are obliged to preserve life wherever possible.
  • Religions believe in the Sanctity of life, which means that all life is sacred and should be kept at all costs.
  • Only God should decide when we die- the bible says ' if we live, we live for the lord, and if we die, we die for the lord, so that alive or dead, we belong to the lord.'
  • Euthanasia is seen as murder in lots of countries, and murder is against the law and the ten commandments.
  • The bible bans suicide, which is essentially what Euthanasia is.
  • The doctrine of double effect which christians believe in has some limits to it's usage- For the doctrine to apply, the bad result must not be the means of achieving the good one. So if the only way the drug relieves the patient's pain is by killing him, the doctrine of double effect doesn't apply.
  • By accepting Euthanasia, we are saying that people who are disabled and ills lives are worth less than normal people.
  • Euthanasia gives too much power to doctors- they may use it to a disadvantage and kill lots of people they want dead under the umbrella of 'Euthansia'
  • Allowing Euthanasia puts pressure on ill people to end their lives so that they are no longer a burden to their families. They may also feel moral pressure to free up medical resources. If we do not allow Euthanasia we will not have this problem.
  • Some religious people would say that there is a value in suffering which we would not get if Euthanasia allowed us to avoid suffering.

Evaluation

In conclusion, there are many good reasons for and against Euthanasia. I would say that if someone were religious, they would have to be Anti-Euthanasia because they would believe that God gave us life so we should preserve it. However I think that Atheists and more liberal Christians may be Pro- Euthanasia, because it is a way of ending someones suffering and giving them the right to choose what happens to them- a right that we would all want if we were in the same position.

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