Euthanasia and the World Today

A detailed Summary of Euthanasia and the World Today

Euthanasia can be described as one of society's more widely and hotly debated moral issues of our time. Active euthanasia, by definition, is "Doing something, such as administering a lethal drug, or using other means that cause a person's death." Passive euthanasia, which seems to not be debated as heavily, is defined as "Stopping (or not starting) some treatment, which allows a person to die, the person's condition causes his or her death." I have chosen to look more closely at the issue of active euthanasia, while applying Kant's standards to the issue.

Those who support the practice of active euthanasia might argue that helping the terminally ill to bring about their own deaths, allowing them to determine the how and when, is not only humane, but also allows the person who is simply living to die to maintain dignity by orchestrating their own end, thus letting them die at peace, rather than suffer to the end, perceiving themselves to be a burden and/or disgrace, to those they love. According to recent polls, many people would agree, but the question is, have they taken a close look at the ethical debate? Those who are against active euthanasia would say not, and would argue that by participat

I personally believe that it would be extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, to legislate a point of illness or disability where euthanasia would be considered legally or ethically acceptable. To do so would be saying that all disabled or terminally ill patients have no chance for a happy and fulfilling life. I believe that we are taking quite a risk when we bring about another person's death willfully, thus assuming that we have the ability to look into the future and deem their life unlivable.

Some would argue that the practice of euthanasia is used as a last resort, when the individual can no longer manage the pain of their illness. However, that argument can be rebutted by an observation made by a proponent of a movement similar to Right to Die. Dr Pieter Admiraal, a leader of a movement to legalize assisted suicide in the Netherlands, stated publicly that pain is never justification for euthanasia considering the advanced medical techniques currently available to manage pain in almost every circumstance. Thus the pain does not justify death, but rather it justifies the need for more money to educate health care professionals on better pain management techniques.

The euthanasia debate raises many questions. Questions such as; For whose benefit is the murder actually taking place? Should we allow family members to make a life-or-death decision on behalf of a loved one who may never have expressed a desire to die, simply because they could not vocalize a will to live? If a person should be suffering with an illness of which there seems no hope of recovery, yet they are unable to make a choice for themselves how do we kno

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Approximate Word count = 1104
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics