Mill And Euthanasia

Ezekiel Emanuel once said, “Physician- assisted suicide and euthanasia have been profound ethical issues confronting doctors since the birth of Western medicine, more than 2,000 years ago.” Euthanasia is defined as a painless killing of someone suffering. In the Greek language, euthanasia is said to mean “easy death”. It was originally dictated for dying of old age or dying naturally (1). However, it is now considered to be an artificial way of dying. Euthanasia is illegal in most countries, however, in the United States, there are five states that consider euthanasia legal. These states include Washington, Vermont, New Mexico, Oregon, and California (2). Euthanasia, like abortion, is considered to be a “choice” issue. However, like …show more content…
Mill’s theory of utilitarianism judges morality based on the consequences an action brings. For people to act in a utilitarian way, actions must bring about good consequences. Mill’s view of a good consequence is an action that brings about pleasure or happiness and decreases pain. Utilitarianism operates from the general rule that if any action increases overall good, then it is right. A utilitarian perspective may lead a person to choose death. The pain and financial burdens that family members or a society might have to endure could be so great that although the person might want to go on living, it would be in the best interest of the family or of the society that the individual should choose to die. They may believe that the society would be forced to bear the financial burden of an individual utilizing such expensive medical care, and that such resources might be better allocated if they were used on those who were not beyond hope. For someone to act morally through his or her life depends on the different circumstances of a situation, but as long as the consequences of the actions result in the greatest overall happiness then it is reasonable to deem that person …show more content…
To kill oneself, or to get someone else to do it for us, is to deny God, and to deny God's rights over our lives and his right to choose the length of our lives and the way our lives end. Some people would also argue that there is positive value in suffering (7). Pope John Paul II once said, “Down through the centuries and generations it has been seen that in suffering there is concealed a particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ, a special grace.” Also, anti-euthanasia supporters argue that if voluntary euthanasia were to become legal, it would not be long before involuntary euthanasia would start to happen. It’s been concluded in the UK that all cases of euthanasia can’t be determined truly voluntary and that vulnerable people could feel pressure to request to end their life. This is called the slippery slope argument and it says that if we allow something relatively harmless today, we may start a trend that results in something currently unthinkable becoming accepted