End Of Life Rachels Euthanasia

James Rachels, author of The End of Life: Euthanasia and Morality (1986) supports euthanasia from the argument from mercy. It is his opinion that euthanasia is acceptable when death is the sole answer to inescapable pain and suffering. It is difficult and perhaps inconceivable to comprehend the awful pain that terminally ill patients endure. For the most part, our conscious reaction is to avoid talking or thinking about it. This being said, Rachels believes the argument is simple, the argument from mercy states euthanasia is justified as it provides a resolution to that. It means acting on our compassion to putting an end to the person’s suffering, hence committing mercy killing. Rachels provides an example into the sad dying journey of the

late satirist, Jonathan Swift. A period spanning over 8 years filled with torment by intense pain that nearly led to the gouging of his own eyes. It is said that to prevent self-infliction knives and other possible harmful tools had to be hid from him. He spent the last three years of his life as an immobile, drooling mindless being which led to his eventual death that came after thirty-six hours of convulsions. Specifically, Rachels is in favor of active voluntary and non-voluntary euthanasia, “If a person prefers—and even begs for—death as the only alternative to lingering on in this kind of torment, only to die anyway after a while, then surely it is not immoral to help this person die sooner.” (The Right Thing To Do, pg.350)