Arguments Against Euthanasia Research

The previous section outlined how interpretation or understanding of the Hippocratic Oath provides arguments for and against Euthanasia being considered medical care. However, I find that the Oath, even if not taken literally, shapes a special ethic in medicine that should continue to be upheld. The spirit of the Oath, as mentioned earlier, offers to patients a sense of what they expect from their physicians- ultimate care. It took years to form the long-standing ethical norms in the patient-physician relationship and allowing physicians to euthanize patients threatens this central norm. Physicians enter the profession, or patients at least hope, with the intention of caring for patients. The killing of a patient, even though it has the potential to be interpreted as …show more content…
The goal of medicine must be to help patients. ‘Do not kill’ has been considered a moral absolute for physicians for centuries and continues to be even in an environment where society looks favorably on the legalization of euthanasia. Medicine is solely about healing and should continue to have nothing to do with the purposeful ending of life. The ugliness of the involvement of physicians in the execution of prisoners, while improving the ‘peaceful death’ of those being executed, has long marred the image of the profession. Physicians participating in the intentional killing of patients would certainly negatively affect the image of medical treatment. My opposition to euthanasia being considered a medical treatment is the understanding that the intent of the physician should never be to kill, it ought to always be healing or curing a patient. However, there are cases where neither is possible and with the legalization of euthanasia, patients have a right to not suffer unnecessary pain and elect to die. In such cases, the aim should be to relieve the patient’s suffering, to do what is in the best interest of the patient, and respects the patient’s