The Pros And Cons Of Active And Passive Euthanasia

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Recommended: Moral and ethic aspects of passive active euthanasia

One of the main concerns that arose regarding active euthanasia is that it not only involves the death of a person, but the act of killing. (Person y kills person x for person x’s own benefit.) Killing is an inhumane act and is morally and universally wrong. When analyzing this point, many flaws appear. Passive euthanasia is when person y allows person x to die for person x’s benefit. Comparing the two situations, active and passive euthanasia are practically indistinguishable, except for the one point that in one you are killing someone, and the other you are simply letting someone die.
Regarding humanity, the more humane thing to do regarding death would be to allow a person to end their life in the most comfortable way, meaning as painlessly, and as quickest as possible, which would entail less suffering. In the hospital setting, passive euthanasia is permissible. This includes withholding/withdrawing medical treatment, life-sustaining equipment, as well as water/nutrition. By doing this the patient suffers greatly before death, as he/she withers to nothing. In this case, not only does the patient suffer greatly, but the family, as well as attending staff members may suffer as well, as they watch the patient die painfully. Many people think that they can just take a whole bottle of Tylenol and wash it down with alcohol and that would be the end of them; however, very rarely that is the case. Potential death is unlikely; liver damage, brain damage, and a coma are more likely to occur. Thus people resort to more effective but violent ways to end their life, such as a shooting or a hanging. These means are very traumatizing for not only the patient who has to commit the act and die alone, but the family as well. Therefore passive...

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...ovement of palliative care training, but in fact has grown since the passage of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. Other countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland have also legalized PAS as well as active euthanasia. Data from reports produced that investigate the impact on palliative care in these countries demonstrate that there is no difference between their palliative care and that of other European countries, which criminalizes PAS. Respectively, Belgium and the Netherlands are ranked higher than Canada in regards to overall ranking of end-of-life care services. These higher ranked countries only became leaders after the decriminalization of PAS. Canada, unfortunately, has not developed high quality palliative care that is universally available. Only 16-30% of people, out of the 90% of people that can benefit from palliative care, receive it.

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