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Euthanasia: A bioethical issue
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Euthanasia:
A Bio-ethical issue.
Sean Dailey
Biology LETU
Introduction
Introduction
To expose and debate a Bio-ethical issue, it must first be defined. "Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide refer to deliberate action taken with the intention of ending a life, in order to relieve persistent suffering." Euthanasia is employed when someone feels they have no other option. It is a way that people can escape their present reality.
Euthanasia has a history and opposing sides to the issue. The Bible offers insight into its ethics and how it is relevant to our lives.
((https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/182951.php)
History
History of the issue
A rudimentary understanding of the history and battles surrounding the legalization of euthanasia or doctor assisted suicide is essential if we are to fight the right to die movement.
"Debates about the ethics of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide date from ancient Greece and Rome. In the 4th Century BC, the Hippocratic Oath was written by Hippocrates, the father of medicine.
In part, the Oath states: "To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug nor give advice which may cause his death. Nor will I give a woman a pessary [device] to procure abortion. For 2400 years, physicians made these solemn promises. Until very recently (the last 30 years or so) the Hippocratic Oath was taken by all new physicians. It was a rite of passage." Today, however, most physicians do not swear by the Hippocratic Oath. This is very dangerous because how do we know if our physicians have our best interest in mind, or if they will work hard to fight for our life and well-being?
(https://www.all.org/learn/euthanasia/historic-review/)
This debate has been waged as early as 5th century B.C. "In ancient Greece and Rome, before the coming of Christianity, attitudes toward infanticide, active euthanasia, and suicide had tended to be tolerant. Many ancient Greeks and Romans had no cogently defined belief in the inherent value of individual human life, and pagan physicians likely performed frequent abortions as well as both voluntary and involuntary mercy killings. Although the Hippocratic Oath prohibited doctors from giving 'a deadly drug to anybody, not even if asked for,' or from suggesting such a course of action, few ancient Greek or Roman physicians followed the oath faithfully. Throughout classical antiquity, there was widespread support for voluntary death as opposed to prolonged agony, and physicians complied by often giving their patients the poisons they requested."
https://euthanasia.procon.org/view.timeline.php?timelineID=000022, Ian Dowbiggin, PhD A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, 2003
Timeline
1973
2005
On March 31, Terri Schiavo died of dehydration in a Florida hospice. Heroic efforts to save her life failed to halt Judge George Greer’s cruel order that Terri be denied all food and water until dead. (https://www.all.org/learn/euthanasia/historic-review/)
In Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that all state and federal laws against abortion violated a “constitutional right to privacy.” Nowhere is such a right written in the Constitution of the United States. (https://www.all.org/learn/euthanasia/historic-review/)
1938
1998
Timeline
1998: Michigan passed a law making assisted suicide a crime (https://www.all.org/learn/euthanasia/historic-review/)
Euthanasia Society of America (ESA) was founded in New York. Goal: to gain social and legal acceptance for the “right” to kill vulnerable human beings (People the organization called “mental defectives” and “incurables”). https://www.all.org/learn/euthanasia/historic-review/
The Hemlock Society was founded by Derek Humphry, a British journalist who had moved to the U.S., and his second wife Ann Wickett. In 1975, Humphry “helped” his first wife kill herself by poisoning her morning coffee and then wrote a book about it—Jean’s Way. (https://www.all.org/learn/euthanasia/historic-review/)
1980
Choice In Dying (ESA, SRD) dissolved itself and transferred its programs and staff to Partnership for Caring (PFC). (https://www.all.org/learn/euthanasia/historic-review/)
Rep. Walter S. Sackett, MD, introduced unsuccessful “right to die” legislation in Florida. (https://www.all.org/learn/euthanasia/historic-review/)
2000
1968
Terri Schiavo.
Historical event 1.
The case of Terri Schiavo was a polarizing event that divided America.
"Ms. Schiavo, a married woman living in St. Petersburg, Fla., was 26 years old when she collapsed on Feb. 25, 1990. While her potassium level was later found to be abnormally low, an autopsy drew no conclusion as to why she had lost consciousness. Whatever the cause, her brain was deprived of oxygen long enough to leave her in a “persistent vegetative state,” a condition that is not to be confused with brain death. She could breathe without mechanical assistance. But doctors concluded that she was incapable of thought or emotion. After her death on March 31, 2005, an autopsy determined that the brain damage was irreversible."
The fight began when Mr. Schiavo wanted to detach the feeding tube that gave her nourishment. "Terri never would have wanted to be kept alive that way," he said. Her parents the Schindlers insisted that the tube be kept in place. That, they said, is what their daughter would have wanted. To Mr. Schiavo, felt like the woman he had married was gone. To the Schindlers, their daughter was still in that body. Ultimately the courts sided with Mr. Schiavo and removed the feeding tube, she died 13 days later, March 31, 2005.
(https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/us/from-private-ordeal-to-national-fight-the-case-of-terri-schiavo.html)
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/terri-schiavo-dies-13-days-after-feeding-tube-removed/
Brittany Maynard.
Historical event 2.
Brittany Maynard, who became the public face of the controversial right-to-die movement over the last few weeks, ended her own life Saturday at her home in Portland, Oregon. She was 29.
“Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me but would have taken so much more,” she wrote on Facebook. “The world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers. I even have a ring of support around my bed as I type Goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!”
Doctors told Maynard she had six months to live last spring after she was diagnosed with a likely stage 4 glioblastoma. She made headlines around the world when she announced she intended to die – under Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act – by taking a fatal dose of barbiturates, prescribed to her by a doctor, when her suffering became too great.
(https://people.com/celebrity/terminally-ill-woman-brittany-maynard-has-ended-her-own-life/)
Dr. Kevorkian
Born in Pontiac, Michigan, on May 26, 1928, Jack Kevorkian became a pathologist who assisted people suffering from acute medical conditions in ending their lives. After years of conflict with the court system over the legality of his actions, he spent eight years in prison after a 1999 conviction. Kevorkian's actions spurred national debate on the ethics of euthanasia and hospice care. He died in Royal Oak, Michigan, on June 3, 2011.
(https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/04kevorkian.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=7B221CE9923ADEAD66418293F2B9B97D&gwt=pay&assetType=REGIWALL)
Historical event 3.
Two sides of the issue
There are people that agree that Euthanasia should be legalized and practiced Ad nauseam. These people are willing to fight for their position and have evidence to back up the validity of their argument.
Opposing sides of the issue.
There are people that argue that Euthanasia should not be legalized and not be allowed. These people are willing to fight for their position and have evidence to back up the validity of their argument.
Support for both views
Con 1
Pro 1
Details of the Pro/Con debate
People opposed to assisted suicide do not consider it “dignified” or “respectable.” In some circumstances they have referred to it as alarming and sad. One of these advocates is executive director of the CPD (Coalition of Persons with Disabilities), Kelly White. The Telegram reports White saying, “To me it says that all persons with a serious disability in Canada can access assisted suicide, or whoever’s caring for them.” This statement does a good job summing up the fear the fills some Canadians who believe disability is not a death sentence. With the option to pursue assisted suicide options should the disability cause intolerable physiological or physical suffering, a spotlight shines on the inabilities people with disabilities struggle with rather than the unique abilities they spend years fostering. (https://www.thenba.ca/disability-blog/two-sides-assisted-suicide-debate/)
In a court case Carter vs. Canada in 2011, Lee Carter was one of three plaintiffs to challenge the Criminal Code of Canada for banning assisted suicide. At the time, the criminal code stated, “Every one who … aids or abets a person to commit suicide … is guilty of an indictable offense and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.” This concerned Lee Carter who took her mother (who suffered from severe symptoms related to Spinal Stenosis) to Switzerland so that a physician could lawfully assist with her suicide. Fear that she might be charged (in Canada) for doing something she considered right prompted Lee to change nationwide legislation. Many people agree with Lee Carter, calling physician assisted suicide a “dignified” death. Some people who suffer from significant disability that may be the result of illness or disease require care from the people around them and medical facilities. A person who needs around-the-clock care but retains enough health to continue living, may consider this lifestyle degrading and might want to choose to die a “respectable” death.
(https://www.thenba.ca/disability-blog/two-sides-assisted-suicide-debate/)
Personal Choice
"The right to die should be a matter of personal choice.
We are able to choose all kinds of things in life from who we marry to what kind of work we do and I think when one comes to the end of one's life, whether you have a terminal illness or whether you're elderly, you should have a choice about what happens to you...
I’m pro life - I want to live as long as I possibly can, but l also believe the law should be changed to let anyone with some severe medical condition which is causing unbearable symptoms to have an assisted suicide. I wouldn't want to be unnecessarily kept alive against my own will."
Michael Irwin, MPH, MD
Coordinator, Society for Old Age Rational Suicide (SOARS)
"Euthanasia: The Right to Die Should Be a Matter of Personal Choice," Mirror
Aug. 19, 2013
Pro 2
Legalization
Con 2
"[C]ampaigning to end certain people's lives doesn't end suffering – it passes on the suffering to other similar people, who now have to fear they are the next people in line to be seen as having worthless lives. And people who have died from a drug overdose have no freedom of choice at all. Moreover, societies that authorize suicide as a 'choice' for some people soon end up placing pressure on them to 'do the right thing' and kill themselves... Seeing suicide as a solution for some illnesses can only undermine the willingness of doctors and society to learn how to show real compassion and address patients' pain and other problems. In states that have legalized assisted suicide, in fact, most patients request the lethal drugs not due to pain (or even fear of future pain), but due to concerns like 'loss of dignity' and 'becoming a burden on others' – attitudes that these laws encourage. The solution is to care for people in ways that assure them that they have dignity and it is a privilege, not a burden, to care for them as long as they live."
Richard Doerflinger, MA
Public Policy Fellow, Center for Ethics and Culture, University of Notre Dame
"Q&A with the Scholars: Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia," Lozier Institute website
Jan. 30, 2017
Vulnerable groups
Pro 3
"Data from places where assisted dying has been legalized, such as Oregon, suggest that the fears of these opponents of the bill are anyway largely unjustified... [T]he most significant vulnerability in many of the terminally ill is that to agonizing, chronic, and unrelievable pain. Because of the MPs who opposed the bill, thousands of people in the UK will have to continue to bear this pain against their will. For these MPs to describe their vote as protecting the vulnerable is grotesque."
Roger Crisp, DPhil
Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Oxford
"Assisted Dying and Protecting the Vulnerable," blog.practicalethics.oc.ac.uk
Sep. 17, 2015
Vulnerable Groups
Con 3
"[I]n this profit-driven economic climate, is it realistic to expect that insurers are going to do the right thing, or the cheap thing? If insurers deny, or even delay, approval of costlier life-saving alternatives, then money saving but fatal measures become the deadly default.
The truth is that assisted suicide as public policy is rife with dangerous loopholes and consequences, especially for the vulnerable in our society. We should reject laws that legalize the practice."
Helena Berger
President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities
"Assisted Suicide Laws Are Creating a 'Duty-to-Die' Medical Culture," thehill.com
Dec. 17, 2017
What does the Bible have to say?
Romans 5:3 teaches us to “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance.” Similarly, James teaches this: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).
Christian ethicist Gilbert Meilaender said, “We should maximize care rather than minimizing suffering, which might include eliminating the sufferer.” Likewise, the authors of Always to Care, Never to Kill in the journal First Things concluded, “Although it may sometimes appear to be an act of compassion, killing is never a means of caring.” Inspired by Meilaender and the authors of Always to Care, Never to Kill, Stephen Phillips, an Indiana professor and physician once thoughtfully suggested that sometimes, true care is holding someone’s hand and suffering right alongside him. It is not taking his life or suggesting that he himself should take his own.
(https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/what-does-the-bible-teach-about-euthanasia-and-physician-assisted-suicide)
What the Bible has to say
The Bible identifies God as our Creator, “the source of life.” (Psalm 36:9; Acts 17:28) In God’s eyes, life is very precious. For this reason, God condemns both taking the life of another and taking one’s own life. (Exodus 20:13; 1 John 3:15) Additionally, the Bible indicates that we should take reasonable precautions to protect our own life and the lives of others. (Deuteronomy 22:8) Clearly, God wants us to value the gift of life.
https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/euthanasia/
Some verses to help
Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? (Ecclesiastes 7:17. https://www.openbible.info/topics/euthanasia)
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; (Ecclesiastes 3:1-3)
https://www.openbible.info/topics/euthanasia)
Biblical passages
You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:20)
https://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/6-20.htm
Breaking it down
In Ecclesiates 7:17, it warns about us being foolish in wanting to just die before our time. God knows our beginning and our end and he knows when it is our time. Even though for these people who are terminally ill, God is the giver of life as well as he is the taker of it. So, even though it seems hopeless to be living, these people should glorify God with every second that they have left on earth. He's our creator, and he has a plan for every single terminally ill person out there. All they must do is trust him.
Biblical explanation
In Ecclesiates 3:1-3, the Bible says that there is a time for everything. A time to live and a time to die. In this part of his word, God tells us that he has set a time for everything. We don't have to worry about what we have to do, because God has made a time and a place for everything. And if it is not our time for death, then we should abide by God's rules and not carelessly end our life. In other words, God decides when we live and die and as christians again, we should trust him.
In 1 Corinthians 6:20, the bible warns us that our bodies are not our own. They are God's, and they were bought with the ultimate price. Jesus dying in our place. So, it is very right to think that our bodies are not our own, they belong to God, and for us to just kill it off when we get terminally ill, is a huge offense to God. Because he created our bodies with his own hands.
If God is the giver and creator of life, it seems right to leave the taking to Him. Just like when He responded to Job in Job 38:4-7, where were you when I laid the foundation of the world, and hung the stars? Humans are the created, and are not endowed with the right or priviledge to decide when anothers life should end; pre-born, disabled, or aged.
Conclusion
After all the research, euthanasia makes sense to me. Death for alleviating people from misery does make sense, if they are going to die anyway. But, we also must ask ourselves a question. Is that the right way out? Euthanasia is banned in certain countries for murder and it is. But some people don't see it as killing. They just see it as a way to put people out of their misery, if they are terminally ill. But really, what is it? It's killing. Murder. Homicide. People just try to sugar-coat it with the explanation of "putting those who are terminally ill out of their misery." But, it still is killing. If a person is euthanized, they don't live anymore they are dead. What does the Bible say about killing?
The 6th commandment says plainly, you shall not murder. Do not kill, no matter what. It doesn't matter if a person is terminally ill, it says do not kill. Looking at God's word, I believe that euthanasia it is not moral, based on the fact that it involves killing which God forbids in the 6th Commandment. And if we are going to live for Christ, we should not endorse the practice of euthanasia. It is killing, and the Bible forbids it.
This leads to the infamous slippery slope. If we have no moral absolutes then anyone could choose based on his own preferences or experiences. This is one fall out of Euthanasia- situational ethics- the end justifies the means. If a culture doesn't have a moral standard ie: 10 commandments, where does that culture get its moral standard? If we employee the standard or situation ethics, then it would stand to reason that a child with a disability could be exterminated; an elderly person, a chronically ill person could be extinguished, based on desire of that person or the wishes of the people over them. It is safer to hold to scripture that God is the giver and taker of life, and end the conversation. Humans cannot be trusted with these decisions.
Deuteronomy 32:39
'See now that I, I am He, And there is no God besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life I have wounded and it is I who heal, And there is no one who can deliver
from My hand.
Wins/Losses
Wins
Losses
Agree?
Disagree?
Resolved.
You lose your life
It puts a person out of their misery
It frees up hospital beds
It's murder
It can decrease the population of terminally ill people
It's not moral
It saves money
It violates God's laws
Works Cited
Work cited
Brazier, Y. (2018, December 17). Euthanasia and assisted suicide: What are they and what do they mean? Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/182951.php.
(Euthanasia History. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.all.org/learn/euthanasia/historic-review/.
Haberman, C. (2014, April 20). From Private Ordeal to National Fight: The Case of Terri Schiavo. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/us/from-private-ordeal-to-national-fight-the-case-of-terri-schiavo.html.
Schneider, M. (2005, March 31). Terri Schiavo dies 13 days after feeding tube removed. Retrieved from https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/terri-schiavo-dies-13-days-after-feeding-tube-removed.
Egan, N. W., & Egan, N. W. (2017, May 9). Terminally Ill Woman Brittany Maynard Has Ended Her Own Life. Retrieved from https://people.com/celebrity/terminally-ill-woman-brittany-maynard-has-ended-her-own-life/.
Schneider, K. (2011, June 3). Dr. Jack Kevorkian Dies at 83; A Doctor Who Helped End Lives. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/
Euthanasia History. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.all.org/learn/euthanasia/historic-review/
Yoshino, J., Baur, J. A., & Imai, S.-I. (2018, March 6). NAD Intermediates: The Biology and Therapeutic Potential of NMN and NR. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5842119/.
Miller, B. (2014, June 20). What the Bible Says About Euthanasia. Retrieved from https://bibleresources.org/euthanasia/.
100 Bible Verses about Euthanasia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.openbible.info/topics/euthanasia).
Wurster, M. (2018, July 27). What does the Bible teach about euthanasia and physician assisted suicide? Retrieved from https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/what-does-the-bible-teach-about-euthanasia-and-physician-assisted-suicide.
https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/euthanasia
Historical Timeline - Euthanasia - ProCon.org. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://euthanasia.procon.org/view.timeline.php?timelineID=000022.
Two Sides to the Assisted Suicide Debate. (2015, February 26). Retrieved from https://www.thenba.ca/disability-blog/two-sides-assisted-suicide-debate/).
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/.Roger Crisp, DPhil, Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Oxford
"Assisted Dying and Protecting the Vulnerable,"
Sep. 17, 2015
Helena Berger, President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities,"Assisted Suicide Laws Are Creating a 'Duty-to-Die' Medical Culture," thehill.com, Dec. 17, 2017
Two Sides to the Assisted Suicide Debate. (2015, February 26). Retrieved from https://www.thenba.ca/disability-blog/two-sides-assisted-suicide-debate/).
Richard Doerflinger, MA. Jan. 30, 2017, Public Policy Fellow, Center for Ethics and Culture, University of Notre Dame
"Q&A with the Scholars: Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia," Lozier Institute website