Euthanasia

Sanctity of life

Trad Christian view. God created human life, God has the right to end it.

We are created in God’s image, genesis says murder is wrong.

10 commandments says thou shalt not murder.

1 Corinthians - you do not belong to yourself

Timothy - before i formed you in the womb, i knew you

Voluntary euthanasia

Patient chooses it

Non voluntary euthanasia

Patient cannot choose; others decide (like vegetative state etc)

Active euthanasia

Taking action to end life

Passive euthanasia

Allowing death by not intervening

Quality of life

How happy or unhappy a person is

Peter Singer - criteria for personhood

Rationality

Self awareness - autobiographical

Capacity to feel pleasure/pain

Preferences and interests

Autonomy

Singer - personhood argument

Not all humans are persons. Persons have the criteria of personhood. We could kill someone in a vegetative state and it would be fine. Wehn it comes to a competent adult, it makes sense that we find it wrong as they likely have a preference to continue living life. This is what makes euthanasia difficult but if they asked for it then its fine because thats their preference.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher - slippery slope argument

Wherever euthanasia is legalised, it is extended to more and more people. It was legalised for the terminally ill but 10 yrs later was adjusted to include babies in cases of severe illness. What next?

Some elderly or vulnerable people may be tempted because they feel like a burden. People might do it because they feel like failures.

Singer’s response to slippery slope

There is no creep of euthanasia becoming more widespread. Only 1/3000 deaths in Oregon are by euthanasia.

Genetic screening allows mothers to know if their kid has a condition before birth so they can abort - almost all babies with down syndrome in Iceland are prescreened and aborted

Autonomy

Freedom of people to make their own choices

Deontological autonomy - Nozick

People have an absolute right to do whatever they want as long as they dont harm anyone. Principle of self-ownership

Nozick’s critiques

People may choose euthanasia for short-sighted reasons like temporary depression

Consequentialist view of autonomy - singer, mill

Political liberalism was developed by mill. People would be happier if granted individual freedom and individuals are in the best position to judge what is right for them to ensure the best possible life - Archbishop fisher disagrees

Singer uses the example of a lovesick teen

paired with rationality it could be okay

Situation ethics - rejection of legalism including sol

The bible is a guidebook, not a rulebook. We can take it literally or figure out for sure what interpretation is meant. Best approach is to follow general themes like love

Situation ethics application

Euthanasia can be morally good where it maximises agape. When the opposite effect is had it would not be.

The subjectivity of love applied to euthanasia

Hitchens. Nazis forced euthanasia program against terminally ill patients and disabled babies. They thought this was loving. Love is too subjective to provide a stable basis

Barclay’s critique of situation on euthanasia

People are not perfectly loving. The world is not come of age. Loving nature can become corrupt with power, they might find it loving to manipulate someone in or out of euthanasia if they get the inheritance to help the family.

Fletcher and Robinson defence to Barclay

Humanity has come of age and we are more mature. In the past people were less educated and self controlling and this meant they needed fixed rules to follow as they couldn’t otherwise be trusted. People now are capable.

Stanford prison experiment

Power is corrupting. People with power soon turned manipulative and cruel.

Natural law and the catholic church on Euthanasia

Euthanasia violates the primary precept to protect and preserve human life. It violates sanctity of life and violates the primary precept of maintaining an orderly society - Our society will break down because living contrary to God’s design is unnatural and leads to immorality and social disorder

Mother Teresa

The greatest threat to world peace is abortion. If a mother can kill her own child in her own womb, what is left to stop us from killing one another - link to euthanasia. It is dangerous for human beings to give themselves the right to judge when it is ok to kill people

Catholic Church on euthanasia and sanctity of life

The catholic church uses Natural Law’s double effect to claim that sometimes doctors can stop or withdraw treatment - passive euthanasia

Or to administer pain medication which could speed up death so as long as the intention is not to kill, double effect suggests its morally acceptable

CCC on euthanasia

Active euthanasia is never justified but passive can be justified through the double effect. It also surprisingly allow administering high doses of pain killers even if it risks killing them as long as death is foreseen but not the intention

Singer’s critique of the CCC

The way SOL is applied by the catholic church seems like they dont really act like they believe it. They allow for passive because they say there is no obligation to provide extraordinary treatment. The Church says this is allowed when treatment is too burdensome. he argues that the real reason for ending treatment must be because the patient’s life no longer has a positive quality.

Natural law - outdated

Aquinas’ Natural Law is seen as outdated. We could claim these ethical principles were created to be useful in the socio-economic conditions of their time. Primary precepts served a useful function in medieval society. Makes sense for euthanasia as people were less control but conditions have changed

Terminal illness

Most common reason for euthanasia as the person is going to die anyway often after a period of suffering

Incurable physical illness

Extremely painful and have no cure, reducing quality of life.

Incurable mental illness

Raises issue of whether there is a kind and degree of mental illness which sufficiently impinges on the mind so that a rational choice cannot be made.

In Belgium, euthanasia is legal for people with this type of illness. Young people in their 20s have been euthanised for this reason if they have tried everything

Active and passive

Active: person is killed by some positive action like lethal injection

Passive: No-one performs an action but they are left to die by natural means e.g. illness, withdrawal of medicine or food. Death takes longer and is more painful

Situation prefers active. Sanctity of life would view both as wrong. Natural law would sometimes justify passive

Voluntary and non-voluntary

Voluntary: when a person has the mental capacity to choose it

Non-voluntary: when someone doesn’t have the mental capacity to choose euthanasia.

Applies to euthanasia of babies

Tony bland case study - was in persistent vegetative state in 1989. In 1993 doctors were allowed by the court to withdraw food and water. First legal case of passive euthanasia in UK

New UK laws

On November 29, 2024, the House of Commons voted 330 to 275 in favor of the bill, allowing it to proceed to the Committee Stage for further scrutiny and potential amendments.