NML APPLICATION: EUTHANASIA

• Euthanasia means 'easy' or 'merciful' death.
• The main ethical problems around euthanasia:

  1. Whether the QoL is more important than the sanctity of life
  2. Whether euthanasia should be legalised
• Voluntary euthanasia - patient requests this, legal in some countries
• Involuntary euthanasia - patient does not request this but you have reason to think they want it.
• Active euthanasia - when a doctor deliberately does this (injection)
• Passive euthanasia - When a doctor withdraws treatment (life support)
• In the UK, suicide was decriminalised in 1961 BUT made clear that if one were to assist someone to commit suicide, this was still a crime.
• In the UK, a patient is allowed to refuse treatment even when this refusal could lead to them harming themselves.
• Euthanasia is legal in Switzerland and the Netherlands.
• Dignitas is a clinic in Switzerland that legally give medication so people may end their lives early.
• Many people argue that human life is sacred and so should be preserved.
• Many people argue that if there is no hope for improvement, then it is kinder to allow someone to die.
• The majority of humans believe we have a right to life.
• Some argue that life is something someone should not be forced to do.
• Some see voluntary euthanasia as a 'slippery slope' because it could open the possibility for people to ask for euthanasia in order to not be a burden.
• According to natural law, giving medication to hasten the death of someone is intentional killing as the internal act is to kill which is immoral.
• Not providing treatment to someone who is terminally ill is known as omission. This is referred to as a 'non-treatment decision'.
• Ordinary means of survival are nutrition, hydration and oxygen.
• Extraordinary means of survival are surgery and medication.
• As food, water and oxygen can be given by machinery, the lines between ordinary and extraordinary are blurred.
• In 1980, the RC church defined euthanasia as 'an action or omission which of itself or by intention causes death, in order that all suffering may in this way be eliminated.'
• In 1980, the RC church recognised that people deserve to die with a minimum amount of pain and that, while suffering can be of spiritual value and bring us closer to God, this can not be made a requirement.
• The RC church accepts painkilling drugs, however raise concerns about drugs that cause unconsciousness as this removes the opportunity for people to continue to uphold the primary precepts.
• Drugs cannot be used to intentionally bring about an early death as life is sacred and should not be taken deliberately.
• According to the declaration of euthanasia by the Catholic Church, 'murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or willful suicide are condemned acts'.
• However, in response to the declaration of euthanasia by the catholic church, some argue euthanasia is not the same as murder or genocide as they are done in hatred and not mercy.
• The catholic church believe abortion is a sin and cannot be allowed under any circumstances.
• The Catholic church recognise that sometimes, when extraordinary means of survival are needed but QoL may not be improved, it may be permissible to refuse this and it not be viewed as murder as forcing them to stay alive seems unreasonable.
• According to natural law, if a doctor chooses not to perform extraordinary means, e.g resuscitation, they are not morally responsible for their death as they should not be forced to prolong the life of a terminally ill person.
• A person who asks a doctor to withhold treatment has not died by suicide as it just an acceptance of the human condition.
• The RC objects to the removal of food drips as they view this as an ordinary means of survival.
• Some argue it is inappropriate to refuse the request the request of a terminally ill person who asks for their death to be hastened. The catholic church would reject this.
• The doctrine of double effect comes into play when 2 precepts clash.
• If a doctor deliberately administers medication to kill their patient, according to natural law it is a mortal sin.
• It is a possible that a doctor may administer drugs to relieve pain with the knowledge there is a risk it may shorten the patients life as their goal was to heal, not kill.
• High levels of painkillers are not permitted under NL when it causes unconsciousness as it stops your relationship with God.
• The treatment needs to be balanced between the benefits and the severity of the patients condition.
• Giving high doses of painkillers that could shorten their life when they could survive years without other treatment plants is not justified under NL.
• Dying because you are given high doses of painkillers is not necessarily an accident because doctors are trained to know consequences.
• In the case of Dr Cox and Lillian Boyes, Boyes' family asked Cox to administer a lethal dose of potassium chloride to ease her pain. She had rheumatoid arthritis so severe she could not bear to be touched.