Active Euthanasia is Murder

2462 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: euthanasia argument issue investigation

"Euthanasia is not about the right to die. It's about the right to kill."-International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force It seems impossible for me to claim I am anti-euthanasia or pro-euthanasia because there are two ways of participating in the process...active or passive. After researching the topic, I have concluded that I cannot support active euthanasia because it seems to follow the same principle as homicide...one person killing another. I do not believe it is anyone's right to decide when, or how, a person's life should end. On the other hand, I cannot say I am totally against suicide or passive euthanasia. Although I do not condone suicide, I respect a person's right to decide between his personal life and death. As far as passive euthanasia is concerned, I view it as part of suicide and think it is a concept that has been around for years but has gone unrecognized until recently. Therefore, if I were to make a declaration of my view of euthanasia, it would simply be, "I am against active euthanasia...I am for passive euthanasia."

To understand why I feel such opposition on one topic, one must understand the proper definitions of "active" and "passive" euthanasia. According to the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force, assisted suicide, or passive euthanasia, involves "a non-suicidal person knowingly and intentionally providing the means or acts in some way to help a suicidal person kill himself or herself." On the other hand, active euthanasia occurs when "one person does something that directly kills another." To give an example, Dr. Kevorkian has conducted passive euthanasia on patients by supplying his patients with the means (lethal injections) to end their lives. But, in 1999, Dr. Kevorkian pa...

... middle of paper ...

... 13 December 2000. http://www.death-dying.com/survey.html

"The Rule of Double Effect." U.S. House Judiciary Committee. 24 June 1999. 5 December 2000. http://www.house.gov/judiciary/hunt0624.htm

Rumbelow, Helen. "Final agonies of the 'easy' death." The Times. Times Newspaper Limited. 24 February 2000. 29 August 2000.

http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/02/24/timnwsnws01040.html

Sobsey, Dick. "A Background Paper Prepared for the Premier's Council on The Status of Persons with Disabilities." 5 December 2000. http://www.thalimide.ca/gwolbring/eau_def.html

"When Death is Sought." Task Force of Life and the Law. 5 December 2000. http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/consumer/patient/preface.htm

Teachers Comments: The effort merits and A. Please see my notes in the essay concerning your format citation problems.

Show More
Related

  • Active Vs Passive Euthanasia

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    I disagree with Rachels’ argument. In another argument by Daniel Callahan. Callahan believes euthanasia is morally impermissible. He believes that killing is worse than letting die. In Rachels’ conclusion is where I see the biggest problem. Rachels says killing vs letting die is a bad reason for preferring passive over active, but in Callahan’s paper he brings 2 important questions that people often associate with each other that he says are actually two separate questions. What caused the patient to die? Who is blame worthy of the patient’s death? The answer to the first question is answered by the person doing the autopsy. Autopsies are performed by a pathologist. Pathologist is a trained scientist that studied

    Read More

  • Natural Selection and The Design Argument

    621 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Paley went on to use the analogy of a watch, he asked us to

    Read More

  • Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s Lust for Power

    809 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the main characters in Macbeth is Macbeth himself. In the beginning of the play he is

    Read More

  • Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide are Murder

    1077 Words  | 3 Pages

    their best to defeat death, or at least try to delay it as long as possible. But

    Read More

  • Ambition and the Downfall of Macbeth

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    Due to the influence of ambition on both characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both end up dead. Compared to the beginning to the end of the play Macbeth and his wife seemed to have switched who they were. No longer did any relationships exist between Macbeth and any other person at the end of the play. For the ambition and greed that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth acted upon, Malcolm summarizes the result of their behavior, “ Producing forth the cruel ministers Of this dead butcher and his fiendlike queen” (V.VIII.68-69).

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Euthanasia

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    The topic of euthanasia and assisted suicide is very controversial. People who support euthanasia say that it is someone 's right to end their own life in the case of a terminal illness. Those in favor of this right consider the quality of life of the people suffering and say it is their life and, therefore, it is their decision. The people against euthanasia argue that the laws are in place to protect people from corrupt doctors. Some of the people who disagree with assisted suicide come from a religious background and say that it is against God’s plan to end one 's life. In between these two extreme beliefs there are some people who support assisted suicide to a certain degree and some people who agree on certain terms and not on others.

    Read More

  • Essay Comparing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    William Shakespeare’s Macbeth tells the story of a general who commits regicide in order to become king. Early in the play, Macbeth is conflicted as to weather or not he wants to kill his kinsman the king. In the first two acts Macbeth is not portrayed as a ruthless killer; he is a sympathetic character who succumbs to the provocation of his wife and a prophecy foretold by three mysterious witches. In contrast, Lady Macbeth is a manipulative, immoral woman. Her ambition is so strong that she is willing to do anything to see her husband succeed. However, in the third act things begin to change. The death of the king and lord and lady Macbeth’s rise to power catalyze profound transformation in their personalities.

    Read More

  • Lady Macbeth Relationship

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are first seen together in Act I, Scene v after Macbeth has received a prophecy from the witches claiming that he will become King of Scotland. Their mutual ambition to fulfil the witches' prophecy is a driving force of their relationship. However, while Macbeth is happy to wait for fate to take its course, Lady Macbeth has a clear fervour to usurp the crown; unfortunately, this ambition warps their relationship as both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change into completely different people. Macbeth goes from being a strong, well respected man to a cold, heartless, fearless murderer while Lady Macbeth goes from being strong willed and controlling to a scared, paranoid child.

    Read More

  • Utilitarianism and the Case for Euthanasia

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    One area of moral dilemma that requires our attention is regarding euthanasia. Euthanasia is the practice of ending life in order to relieve pain or suffering caused by a terminal illness. Euthanasia can further be divided into two subcategories active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is the process of deliberately causing a person’s death. In passive euthanasia a person does not take any action and just allows the person to die. In many countries, the thought of euthanasia is morally detestable. However, many doctors find nothing wrong with allowing a terminally ill patient to decide to refuse medication. This decision is a form of passive euthanasia the doctor did not actively cause the patient’s death, but he did nothing to prevent the patient’s death. Failing to act and directly acting is not the same as not being responsible for the consequences of an event.

    Read More

  • The Difference Between Active And Passive Euthanasia

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    I have argued that both active and passive euthanasia are morally permissible, but many people are already okay with passive euthanasia because they believe the cause of death is different from active euthanasia so to some people passive euthanasia is the only morally acceptable one, and active euthanasia is the one that is morally impermissible. Both active and passive euthanasia are difficult things to accept because they both involve death and people are generally uncomfortable when it comes to that topic. I argue now that active euthanasia is more acceptable than passive euthanasia, not because of the morality between the two (because morally they are the same), but because active euthanasia is the one that ends the pain and suffering more

    Read More

  • The Rise and Fall of Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the beginning ( I, v, 43-54) ,  we see Lady Macbeth reacting to the

    Read More

  • Macbeth Act 1 Scene 1 Essay

    630 Words  | 2 Pages

    after committing such an unholy act. Macbeth gets very paranoid after this crime and it grows as

    Read More

  • Is Euthanasia Morally Acceptable?

    2344 Words  | 5 Pages

    Before defining and discussing the three major categories of euthanasia, it is important to understand the meaning of their subtypes known as active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is performing a direct action to take someone’s life, such as administering a lethal drug to a patient. Passive euthanasia is allowing someone to die by not performing some life-sustaining action or ending life-sustaining treatment (Pojman). Examples of passive euthanasia would be removing a patient’s respirator or withholding nutrients and fluids. Active euthanasia is easily the more controversial of the two.

    Read More

  • A Defense of Euthanasia

    1271 Words  | 3 Pages

    My opponents and their followers “see it as a term of murder, killing those who are sick, infirm, or disabled, young and old alike, with or without their permission.” (Urofsky 22). They could even say that by allowing euthanasia, we could possibly be encouraging people that it is ok to end your own life when you see fit; inadvertently telling people it is okay to commit suicide. My opponent also believes that euthanasia should not be allowed as it allows doctors to play God with the lives of people who are ill.

    Read More

  • Euthanasia Should Not Be Legal

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    There exist three different types of euthanasia: active, passive and voluntary. Active euthanasia refers to the process of injection of painkillers and sleeping pills in order to reduce the time of suffering of a patient by making his death less painful. On the other side, voluntary euthanasia refers to the case of the conscientious patient, who voluntarily demands from the doctor to give up on treatments. In this case the patient is conscious that he will die soon and regardless that stops the treatments. In my discussion related to whether euthanasia should be legalized or not I will refer only to active and voluntary euthanasia arguments.

    Read More

More about Active Euthanasia is Murder

Open Document