Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
April 10th 2008 12:18
It is currently illegal in the UK and in most states in the USA to either help someone to die by providing with the means or to actively kill them at their request. In the UK anyone who commits the former offense can face up to fourteen years in prison while the later offense is treated as a case of murder. It seems clear that some laws of this sort must necessarily apply to the public at large both because wishes to die may be short term and based on irrational emotions and because it will often be difficult to distinguish between a case of assisted suicide and a case of murder. However at present these laws also regulate the actions of doctors; doctors can under no circumstances end or provide the materials necessary to end the life of a patient without the facing the possibility of prosecution.
This seems intuitively wrong to me, being able to die in a dignified way at the time of your choosing is not something i can see any moral objection to. However rather than simply state my intuitions i want to lay out the logic that lies behind them. One important principle here is that of respect for autonomy, i believe that respect for autonomy entails accepting to further principles. Firstly the principle of non-paternalism which suggests that in general people are the best judge of their own interests, secondly the principle that the only reason we can prevent someone from pursuing their own interests is if in doing so they will harm the interests of others. These two principles seem difficult to deny and they seem to directly support the removal of laws against assisted suicide and euthanasia.
However there is still a problem; these principles seem to suggest allowing anyone to help anyone else commit suicide, this seems like a bad idea, euthanasia and assisted suicide would be best if only available from doctors and only available for terminally ill patients. Both of these restrictions can be justified if we accept a further principle, that of reasonable paternalism. This principle states that in order to have someone help you further your interests that person must be able to from a professional position agree with your judgment. Doctors clearly are the only people who can judge whether a person is terminally ill, Doctors will only permit help terminally ill patients to end their lives, other patients who want to die currently might later be glad that they didn't. The laws on assisted suicide and euthanasia should be changed so that doctors in certain situations are allowed to end, or help end, the life of terminally ill patients who want to die.
This is a very basic argument about an important issue, for further considerations see the Dignity in Dying website which has a lot of information as well as further useful links.
This seems intuitively wrong to me, being able to die in a dignified way at the time of your choosing is not something i can see any moral objection to. However rather than simply state my intuitions i want to lay out the logic that lies behind them. One important principle here is that of respect for autonomy, i believe that respect for autonomy entails accepting to further principles. Firstly the principle of non-paternalism which suggests that in general people are the best judge of their own interests, secondly the principle that the only reason we can prevent someone from pursuing their own interests is if in doing so they will harm the interests of others. These two principles seem difficult to deny and they seem to directly support the removal of laws against assisted suicide and euthanasia.
However there is still a problem; these principles seem to suggest allowing anyone to help anyone else commit suicide, this seems like a bad idea, euthanasia and assisted suicide would be best if only available from doctors and only available for terminally ill patients. Both of these restrictions can be justified if we accept a further principle, that of reasonable paternalism. This principle states that in order to have someone help you further your interests that person must be able to from a professional position agree with your judgment. Doctors clearly are the only people who can judge whether a person is terminally ill, Doctors will only permit help terminally ill patients to end their lives, other patients who want to die currently might later be glad that they didn't. The laws on assisted suicide and euthanasia should be changed so that doctors in certain situations are allowed to end, or help end, the life of terminally ill patients who want to die.
This is a very basic argument about an important issue, for further considerations see the Dignity in Dying website which has a lot of information as well as further useful links.
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