Allowing physician-assisted suicide would be a grave mistake for four reasons. First, it would endanger the weak and vulnerable. Second, it would corrupt the practice of medicine a
Over the past two decades, the right to decide about medical treatment, including the right to refuse life-sustaining measures, has become a fundamental tenet of American law. The
The euthanasia debate is a momentous one. It involves problems that range from the nature and meaning of human life to the most fundamental principles on which societies are based.
When a person performs an act of euthanasia, she brings about the death of another person because she believes the latter’s present existence is so bad that he would be better off
Euthanasia is commonly understood as bringing about another's death to end that person's suffering. There is substantial controversy over whether euthanasia is morally permissible,
Arguments about the ethics of euthanasia are essentially the same as, and have been coloured by, arguments about the ethics of suicide. The wrong of suicide has, since the death of
In modern society, in which even the fundamental values of human life are often called into question, cultural change exercises an influence upon the way of looking at suffering an
When he presents the heart of his redemptive mission, Jesus says: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10). In truth, he is referring to that "new" and "
The term comes from the Greek meaning a happy death. In contemporary usage it refers to bringing about the death of others with the intention of easing their suffering. This may take three forms: 1) voluntary euthanasia where a person seeks or at least consents to another taking their life, the former being related to ‘assisted suicide’; 2) non-voluntary euthanasia where a person is unable to give consent (e.g. due to being in a coma) but, usually, where it is believed or presumed that were they capable they would consent to their death; and 3) involuntary euthanasia which is against the expressed with of the person. Opposition to euthanasia may be to all three forms or to some but not others, involuntary being the most contentious. Arguments against euthanasia focus on either the duty not to destroy innocent life (one’s own included) or the dangers of abuse; or both.