Euthanasia: Affects People's Rights, Not Just a Patient's Rights

The definition of euthanasia is: ’the intentional killing, by act or omission, of a person whose life is felt not to be worth living‘.
Against
Ethical arguments
•Euthanasia weakens society's respect for the sanctity of life
•Accepting euthanasia accepts that some lives (those of the disabled or sick) are worth less than others
•Voluntary euthanasia is the start of a slippery slope that leads to involuntary euthanasia and the killing of people who are thought undesirable
•Euthanasia might not be in a person's best interests
•Euthanasia affects other people's rights, not just those of the patient

Practical arguments
•Proper palliative care makes euthanasia unnecessary
•There's no way of properly regulating euthanasia
•Allowing euthanasia will lead to less good care for the terminally ill •Allowing euthanasia undermines the commitment of doctors and nurses to saving lives
•Euthanasia may become a cost-effective way to treat the terminally ill
•Allowing euthanasia will discourage the search for new cures and treatments for the terminally ill
•Euthanasia undermines the motivation to provide good care for the dying, and good pain relief

•Euthanasia gives too much power to doctors
•Euthanasia exposes vulnerable people to pressure to end their lives •Moral pressure on elderly relatives by selfish families
•Moral pressure to free up medical resources
•Patients who are abandoned by their families may feel euthanasia is the only solution

Historical arguments
•Voluntary euthanasia is the start of a slippery slope that leads to involuntary euthanasia and the killing of people who are thought undesirable

Religious arguments
•Euthanasia is against the word and will of God
•Euthanasia weakens society's respect for the sanctity of life
•Suffering may have value
•Voluntary euthanasia is the start of a slippery slope that leads to involuntary euthanasia and the killing of people who are thought undesirable

For
Some Christians would support euthanasia. They might argue:
•God is love. Christianity is love and compassion. Keeping someone in pain and suffering is not loving, it is evil. Euthanasia can be the most loving action, and the best way of putting agape love into practice.
•Humans were given dominion over all living things by God (Genesis 1:28), i.e. we can choose for ourselves.
•Jesus came so that people could have life “in all its fullness” John 10:10: this means quality of life. If someone has no quality of life, then euthanasia could be good.
•God gave humans free will. We should be allowed to use free will to decide when our lives end.
• “Do to others as you would have them do to you”. How would you want to be treated?
•There are examples of euthanasia in the Bible - in 2 Samuel 1:9-10 “Then he begged me, ‘Come over here and put me out of my misery, for I am in terrible pain and want to die.’ So I killed him.”
•Thomas More, a Roman Catholic saint, wrote a book about a perfect society ('Utopia'), which included euthanasia - people "choose to die since they cannot live but in great misery."

•Can quickly and humanely end a patient’s suffering, allowing them to die with dignity.
• Can help to shorten the grief and suffering of the patient’s loved ones.
• Everyone has the right to decide how they should die.
•Death is a private matter, and if you are not hurting anyone else, the state should not interfere.
• Most people would have their pets put down if they were suffering – this would be regarded as kindness. Why can’t the same kindness be given to humans?
• Illness can take away autonomy (the ability to make choices) and dignity, leaving you with no quality of life; euthanasia allows you to take back control in deciding to die
• Keeping people alive costs a lot of money, which could be used to save other people's lives

Dianne Pretty
Dianne Pretty was suffering from motor neurone disease and wanted to die. She and her husband petitioned the courts to give immunity from prosecution to her husband if he were to help her to kill herself. He did not get immunity, the disease took its inevitable course, and Dianne Pretty died in hospital under exactly the sort of conditions she had wanted to avoid.
A documentary crew recorded the suffering and loss of dignity that Dianne Pretty endured, and this made her case very well known in England. The court cases, show an interesting range of ethical responses, ending with the statement from the European Courts only weeks before she died that Dianne Pretty did not have the right to die.
The deontological argument about the 'right to die' is not the only position to come out of the courts. An earlier statement said that, though in Dianne Pretty's case her horrific suffering would justify assisting her suicide, to change the law would lead to more harm than good. In other words, a rule utilitarian response was chosen, even though an act utilitarian would disagree.
Jack Kevorkian (aka Dr Death)
Kevorkian earned the name 'Dr Death' by photographing the eyes of dying patients. Later in his career (starting in 1987) he began to advertise his services as a physician offering 'death counselling'. When terminally ill patients learned that he was helping people to die, more and more people came to him. Despite several failed court cases, Kevorkian helped over 130 people to die.
Kevorkian believed that helping people was not enough, and actually killed Thomas Youk, filmed himself doing so and showed the film on 60 Minutes. He left the studio in handcuffs, and, defending himself unsuccessfully in court, was sentenced to 10-25 years in prison. In 2006 Kevorkian became terminally ill with Hepatitis C and asked to be pardoned.
Case 1: Tony Bland, 1989
When doctors at Airedale Hospital in Yorkshire asked the High Court for permission to withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration from Hillsborough victim Tony Bland, his family supported the application.
After the Hillsborough stadium tragedy, Tony was left in a persistent vegetative state - and hence was not legally dead. His parents believed their son would not want to be kept alive in such a condition.
They petitioned the court to sanction the withdrawal of hydration and artificial nutrition, which it did.
Case 2: Dr Nigel Cox, 1992
Dr Nigel Cox remains the only doctor ever to be convicted in the UK of attempting to perform a mercy killing. A consultant rheumatologist from Hampshire, he was found guilty of attempted murder after injecting 70-year-old Lillian Boyes with a lethal drug.
Dr Cox's act was discovered by a nurse who read Miss Boyes medical notes. She realised that the potassium chloride he had used would not alleviate pain, but instead stop Ms Boyes' heart. The charge of attempted murder was brought because it could not be proved conclusively that the injection had killed her.
Despite the verdict, Winchester Crown Court imposed a suspended sentence, while the General Medical Council let him off with a reprimand. He is still practising medicine in Hampshire. During Dr Cox's court case and subsequent appearance before the General Medical Council, Ms Boyes' family never wavered in their support for the doctor's actions.
Case 3: Mary Ormerod, 1995
Mary Ormerod was starved of food and fluids.
Her doctor, with the support of her daughters, had taken a conscious decision to withhold a nutritional supplement called Fresubin from the 85-year-old after she ceased to communicate with the outside world. But Dr Ken Taylor, the GP who took the decision, was suspended by the General Medical Council, the regulatory body for doctors, after nurses at the home complained about his actions. His six-month suspension was not directly because of his treatment of Mrs Ormerod, but because he failed to listen to nurses and consult colleagues. In fact, he had done nothing legally wrong in starving Mrs Ormerod.
This is because, under the ruling of Tony Bland's case, artificial nutrition and hydration is regarded as medical treatment.
Legal position
Both euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal under English law.
Depending on the circumstances, euthanasia is regarded as either manslaughter or murder and is punishable by law with a maximum penalty of up to life imprisonment.
Assisted suicide is illegal under the terms of the Suicide Act (1961) and is punishable by up to 14 years' imprisonment. Attempting to commit suicide is not a criminal act in itself.