Euthanasia Position Paper - Against Euthanasia

Assisted Suicide, mercy killing, euthanasia; whatever you call it or however we justified it is killing by all means. Euthanasia is a practice of ending a life to release an individual from an incurable disease or intolerable suffering. It is an action which brings intentional death to a patient. In the case of the elderly cancer patient, the family and the patient does not know whether or not to commit euthanasia. The author response in this case, is that the elderly cancer patient should not go for euthanasia, since she has a biographical life. He came to the right conclusion, even though he did not have a valid argument. The author should have advised the patient not to commit euthanasia by using the three main arguments against euthanasia, which are the Bible from a Christian prospective, the effective pain management, and the fear of abuse if euthanasia were legalized.

Case History: A seventy one-year-old Christian woman developed cancer in her kidney. Physicians helped her by removing the kidney. However, now the cancer has spread to other parts of her body. The physicians say that she needs dialysis, since her second kidney is now failing. They believe that dialysis might keep her alive for six to nine months. Without dialysis, she would probably survive a couple of weeks. An experimental drug that might have some effect on her cancer is coming onto the market. The new drug might help her fight the cancer, if she could survive for six months. Despite her insurance policy, she is sending a tremendous amount of money from her life savings. Her son thinks death is unavoidable and wants to avoid dialysis. He thinks bankrupting the family for a long shot is meaningless. Her daughter is a Christian who feels bad about not doing everything she can to help her mother.

The question that is presented at the end of this case history is what should one say to guide this family on whether or not the elderly cancer patient should go for euthanasia? Author's Response: