Euthanasia A02

Question 1

the religious concept of the sanctity of life does have meaning in 21st century medical ethics

Answer 1

• medical science has its limits - even experts in palliative care find it hard to predict when death is inevitable - death may be likely but uncertainty about time frames
• patients sometimes recover when its least expected
• perhaps while traditionally religious idea, acts a social taboo to protect life
• rational reasons to want to protect and save life
• modern thought seems to conclude life does matter
• dec of human rights - advocates dignity - concerted attempt to affirm all lives
• may have religious origins but the basic urge to respect all life has currency worldwide
• don’t need religious belief to hold that concept
• Vatican - life is gift of God’s love

Question 2

the religious concept of the sanctity of life does NOT have meaning in 21st century medical ethics

Answer 2

• based on religion but in an era of democracy and plurality/diversity in religious belief it is questionable whether it should inform law
• absolute ban on taking life that ancient religion provides precludes the medical science we now have
• now have confidence to know when life can be saved and death is inevitable and that human body can survive even when consciousness has gone forever
• medical science helps us decide when sanctity no longer a factor - sanctity outdated - fails to accommodate new life prolonging treatment
• protecting people is one thing but keeping them alive when the person has gone is another

Question 3

what three considerations are put forward in Vatican

Answer 3

• no one can make an attempt on the life of an innocent person without opposing God’s love for that person, violating a fundamental right and thus without committing a crime of the utmost gravity
• everyone has the duty to lead their life in accordance with God’s plan - life entrusted to individual as a good that must bear fruit on earth but finds its full perfection only in eternal life
• intentionally causing one’s own death is as equally wrong as murder such an action on the part of a person is to be considered a rejection of God’s sovereignty and loving plan

ESSENTIALLY
- human life is a gift of God’s love which we are called upon to preserve and make fruitful

Question 4

a person should have complete autonomy over their own life and the decisions made about it

Answer 4

• important ethical idea
• philosophers link moral responsibility with our ability to make rational decisions
• humans are moral creatures we can choose when and how to act in life not out of instinct
• death is a defining aspiration of our life and identity
• to choose is to be free from enslavement
• autonomy important in our life and should be at the end too

Question 5

a person should NOT have complete autonomy over their own life and the decisions made about it

Answer 5

• in many instances life ends beyond the control of individual due to failure of organs e.g. as they reach their natural end
• death often comes unexpectedly - no time to prepare
• to try and hold autonomy flies in the face of reality
• our desire to choose is understandable but often is a wish that cannot be fulfilled
• how can we talk of people being free to choose when presented with their own morality
• emotionally overwhelming
• rational decision making no longer meaningful
• desperate not free decision making
• freedom of some being given at freedom of others
• does my freedom to choose death oblige others to facilitate my decision
• slippery slope
• one person’s freedom can become another’s duty
• perhaps individual freedom is an illusion - our choices do impact others

Question 6

there is a moral difference between medical intervention to end a patient’s life and medical non-intervention to end a patient’s life

Answer 6

• emphysema often needs an operation risky for elderly patients - asked whether they should be resuscitated should they die during the operation
• non-intervention would prevent the possibility of return of life
• non-intervention also includes withdrawing medication or food and water
• some say these different from lethal injection as that directly ends a life stopping body what it naturally seeks to do
• requires a person to ACT to end a life in a different way to withdrawing something
• withdrawing burdensome treatment might make a patient more comfortable as they approach their end
• intention different to lethal injection
• surrender to natural order rather than intervention
• difference between refusal of burdensome treatment to basic care like feeding

Question 7

there is NOT a difference between medical intervention to end a patient’s life and medical non-intervention to end a patient’s life

Answer 7

• inaction as well as action has moral consequences

- the person who walks past a drowning person who needs a life ring is morally responsible for failing to throw it