Euthanasia 3 Essay, Research Paper

email: [email protected] is one of the most acute and uncomfortable contemporary problems inmedical ethics. Is Euthanasia Ethical? The case for euthanasia rests on one mainfundamental moral principle: mercy. It is not a new issue; euthanasia has been discussed-and practised-in bothEastern and Western cultures from the earliest historical times to the present.But because of medicine’s new technological capacities to extend life, theproblem is much more p Euthanasia is a way of granting mercy-both by directkilling and by letting the person die. This principle of mercy establishes twocomponent duties:1. the duty not to cause further pain or suffering; and2. the duty to act to end pain or suffering already occurring. Under the first of these, for a physician or other caregiver to extend mercy toa suffering patient may mean to refrain from procedures that cause furthersuffering-provided, of course, that the treatment offers the patient nooverriding benefits. The ph s performed even though a patient’s survival ishighly unlikely; although patients in arrest are unconscious at the time ofresuscitation, it can be a brutal procedure, and if the patient regainsconsciousness, its aftermath can involve considerable pain. In many such cases,the patient will die whether or not the treatments are performed. In some cases,however, the principle of mercy may also demand withholding treatment that couldextend the patient’s life if the treatment is itself painful or discomf Theprinciple of mercy may also demand letting die in a still stronger sense. Underits second component, the principle asserts a duty to act to end suffering thatis already occurring. Medicine already honours this duty through its various

techniques Ending the pain, though with it the life, may be accomplished throughwhat is usually called “passive euthanasia”, withholding or withdrawingtreatment that could prolong life. In the most indirect of these cases, thepatient is simply not given treatme The second component of the mercy principlemay also demand the easing of pain by means more direct than mere allowing todie; it may require killing. This usually is called “active euthanasia. Inpassive euthanasia, treatment is withheld that could su cesses and waits foreventual death to ensue; rather. it is one that brings the pain- and thepatient’s life- to an end now. If there are also grounds on which it is mercifulnot to prolong life, then there are grounds on which it is merciful to terminatPain is a thing of the medical past, and euthanasia is no longer necessary,though it may have been, to relieve pain. Given modern medical technology andrecent remarkable advances in pain management, the sufferings of the morallywounded and dying can It is flatly incorrect to say that all pain, includingpain in terminal illness, is or can be controlled. Some people still die inunspeakable agony. With superlative care, many kinds of pain can indeed bereduced in many patients, and adequate control ncy may mean an agonizing finalfew hours. Even a patient receiving the most advanced and sympathetic medicalattention may still experience episodes of pain, perhaps altering withconsciousness, as his or her condition deteriorates and the physician att In allof these cases, of course, the patient can be sedated into unconsciousness; thisdoes indeed end the pain. But in respect of the patient’s experience, this istantamount to causing death: the patient has no further conscious experience andthus