Euthanasia Ethics: Can It Be Justified From a Moral and Ethical Standpoint
This paper examines whether euthanasia can be justified from a moral and ethical standpoint. It argues that social workers could use the various ethical perspectives to rationalize euthanasia, especially in cases of extreme suffering.Peter Singer, the foremost proponent of utilitarianism, argues that there would be cases where euthanasia is perfectly moral and ethical. In his book Writings on an Ethical Life (2001), Singer argues that, "the idea of an ethical system carries with it "the notion of something bigger than the individual" (15). As a general principle, Singer proposes that ones actions are ethical insofar as they are compatible with universal interests and produce the "best consequences" for the greatest number of people. Singer's utilitarianism is characterized by a calculation of interests. A person suffering from pain, especially those who are terminally ill, have a strong interest to be free from pain. This should be weighed against the interests of a society in keeping a person who is in pain alive. In this ca
Sarah Banks (2004) writes on the practical application of these ethics, with a special focus on the caring professions. For Banks, codes of ethics are not rigid rulebooks with prescriptions on the minutiae of professional practice. This thus opens the possibility that there are cases where social workers could find euthanasia to be the ethical choice, such as cases of extreme pain and suffering. Stephen Clarke (1996) agrees with this position, stating that codes of ethics must also take into account how social workers could better serve their community. Thus, in cases where a patient's suffering is taking a strong emotional and financial toll on the family, Clarke and Bank's writings could be used to support having euthanasia as an option. More than 200 years ago, Immanuel Kant (1997) helped provide a framework for this practical approach to ethics. In his Critique of Practical Reason, Kant arrived at the principle of the "categorical imperative," the only universal moral constraint on the practical reason of rational human
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Approximate Word count = 701
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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