Euthanasia

Question 1

Voluntary euthanasia

Answer 1

a person’s death is directly caused by another person with the person’s consent.

Question 2

Non-voluntary euthanasia

Answer 2

a person’s death is directly caused by another person without the person’s consent.

Question 3

Passive euthanasia

Answer 3

when life sustaining treatment is withdrawn thereby leading to death (‘letting nature take its course’)

Question 4

Assisted suicide

Answer 4

a person dies asa direct result of their own voluntary action but with the help of another person.

Question 5

Why was Jack Kevorkian so controversial?

Answer 5

He created a suicide machine whereby he helped people to end their lives.

Question 6

What does Jack Kevorkian say about autonomy? (quote)

Answer 6

‘the highest principle in medical ethics…is personal autonomy’

Question 7

Tony Nicklinson’s case

Answer 7

He suffered a stroke leaving him with locked in syndrome.
He lost his case when wanting to end hi life so he decided to starve himself.

Question 8

What quote from Genesis influences ideas on the sanctity of life?

Answer 8

‘so God created mankind in his own image’

Question 9

What is the story of Abraham and Isaac?

Answer 9

God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son.

When going to kill his son, God replaces him with a lamb.

Shows the value of human life and how God would never ask anyone to take the life of another.

Question 10

What is John Mahoney’s secular justification of the sanctity of life?

Answer 10

John Mahoney: ‘the emergence of the human being even as a matter of chance…is a genuine case for wonder’

Question 11

What is Dworkin’s secular justification of the sanctity of life?

Answer 11

Dworkin: ‘…human life is intrinsically valuable, and worthy of a kind of awe, just because it is human life.’

Question 12

What is quality of life?

Answer 12

How happy or unhappy a life is - a persons total wellbeing

Question 13

What does Peter Singer believe about quality of life?

Answer 13

Singer believes that quality of life is an important factor for euthanasia.

He argues that we should revaluate Christian ethical precepts as they are no longer accepted - this being the sanctity of life.

He emphasizes autonomy for people to make their own decisions - if someone suffers then they should be able to die as their quality of life would not be good.

Question 14

Who influenced Singer in his beliefs on autonomy?

Answer 14

Mill - utilitarianism

Question 15

What is QUALY?

Answer 15

Quality adjusted life years

Measures pain, psychological health and mobility against the predicted number of years a person has left.

Question 16

Why might quantifying the quality of a person’s life be problematic?

Answer 16

Giving medical professors the decision can be problematic as they may abuse their power eg. prioritize money over humanity.

Question 17

Natural law: How can euthanasia be seen as an apparent good?

Answer 17

Ending someone’s life may appear to be a good way to end someone’s suffering yet the better thing may have been treating a patient in care eg. death in hospice.

Question 18

Natural law: What did Dame Cicely Saunders believe about end of life care?

Answer 18

She was a nurse guided by her Christian faith who believed that there was a ‘time to live and a time to die’ hence she believed that dying patients should still receive care.

Question 19

Natural law: What quote from the Catholic church suggests that natural law may allow for euthanasia in some circumstances?

Answer 19

‘Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate’

If treatment is dangerous then it is acceptable to stop it.

Question 20

Natural law: How does the case of Dr David Moor show the doctrine of double effect?

Answer 20

Dr David Moor killed an ill patient by giving him a dose of morphine which was intended to relieve intense suffering.

The good outcome was treating the patient and the bad outcome was death - the good effect was what was intended.

Question 21

Natural law: What do Grisez and Boyle believe about personhood?

Answer 21

Personhood applies to people who are both in a fit and vegetative state - this means that life is always valuable which rejects euthanasia.

Question 22

Natural law: What does the term ‘proportionalism’ mean in relation to euthanasia?

Answer 22

There is often a proportional reason as to why the lesser of two evils should be taken and death then shortened - euthanasia may be the lesser of two evils in some circumstances.

Question 23

Strengths of natural law for euthanasia?

Answer 23

It prevents life from being devalued (sanctity of life) - protects against the slippery slope.

It allows patients to refuse extraordinary treatment.

The doctrine of double effect allows doctors to administer certain pain relief.

The concept of personhood protects the most vulnerable (PVS).

Having absolutes allows there to be clear rules to follow and avoids misconception.

Question 24

Weaknesses of natural law for euthanasia?

Answer 24

There is not much difference between omission and commission - James Rachel

Absolutist principles can be seen as being cruel.

Medicine is already ‘playing God’ by extending life beyond what is natural - inconsistent to say we should not help in terminal care.

Preserving life at all costs leads to a lack of dignity.

Question 25

Situation ethics: What quote from Joseph Fletcher shows his emphasis on the importance of relativism and the quality of life?

Answer 25

'It is harder to justify letting somebody die a slow and ugly death, dehumanizing than it is to justify helping him escape from such misery'

Question 26

Situation ethics: How does positivism allow a Christian to reconcile their beliefs about the sanctity of life with the idea of euthanasia?

Answer 26

People would posit faith in God that euthanasia is the right thing to do.

Question 27

Situation ethics: What does a relativist approach mean for euthanasia?

Answer 27

Life is to be valued but there are times where it is more loving to end it.

Question 28

Situation ethics: How is personalism useful in cases of voluntary euthanasia?

Answer 28

Personalism is respect for someone's personal autonomy allowing a person's dignity to have priority.

Question 29

Weaknesses of situation ethics for euthanasia?

Answer 29

Slippery slope argument - permissive approach. Absolutes are what allows life to be always valued. Teleological theory mean that the future has to be predicted. Too individualistic - Fletcher was a product of a permissive society (non-restrictive). Human nature is too self-interested - cannot make rational decisions.

Question 30

What quote from the 10 commandments influenced views about the sanctity of life?

Answer 30

'thou shall not murder'

Question 31

How could the idea of sanctity of life be critiqued?

Answer 31

There are many themes found in the Bible, the sanctity of life is only one - other themes include compassion and love, both emphasised by Jesus. The strong sanctity of life view no longer seems so relevant in our modern situation where we have the technology to keep people alive.

Question 32

What is Archbishop Fisher's views on quality of life in opposition to Peter Singer?

Answer 32

Archbishop Fisher argues that if Euthanasia is allowed for quality of life, then some elderly or otherwise vulnerable people might be tempted to die because they feel like a burden. Western culture values success, self-sufficiency and beauty. Those who fall short can feel miserable as a result.

Question 33

What is a case in Canada that shows a weakness of using quality of life to measure euthanasia?

Answer 33

In 2022 in Canada there was a controversy over two high profile cases of people with medical conditions for which they received insufficient financial support applying for euthanasia. One saying they have applied for euthanasia “because of abject poverty”. Essentially, euthanasia was applied due to poverty.

Question 34

What was Pope Francis' critique of the case in Canada?

Answer 34

Pope Francis criticised Canada’s system as part of a tragic culture of treating the elderly and disabled as disposable patients.

Question 35

What is the main point of the slippery slope argument?

Answer 35

If we allow euthanasia for low quality of life in clear cases of terminal illness – we are in danger of slowly starting to allow it in more controversial cases too. Fisher argues the only way to resist that is to view human life as sacred.

Question 36

What is Singer's response to the slippery slop argument?

Answer 36

Singer says the slippery slope made sense to worry about back in the 70s, before we had real data. He points out how in Oregon only one in three thousand deaths are by euthanasia. Genetic screening allowing mothers to know if their baby has a condition before its born - this reduces post birth euthanasia.

Question 37

How are the Nazis brought up as an example for for the slippery slope and how is this easily counteracted?

Answer 37

Hitler signed a 'euthanasia notes' that allowed the killings to begin. However, the Nazis did not themselves slip down the slope to end up in their ideology regarding euthanasia - their attitude to euthanasia was their starting point. They only illustrate the importance of having an ethical starting point when approaching euthanasia, not the fact that you could fall down a slippery slope.

Question 38

What is Nozick's view on autonomy?

Answer 38

He argued for the principle of ‘self-ownership’, that each person owns their body and can do what they want with it. If someone wants euthanasia then that is up to them, no matter the reason - voluntary euthanasia is always morally accepted.

Question 39

What is a flaw of allowing autonomy in regard to euthanasia and how does Singer respond to this?

Answer 39

Love-sick teens or depressed individuals might choose death irrationally. Autonomy must reflect ideal desires—what a person would want without irrational emotion. Singer concludes we need to make sure that autonomy is rational.

Question 40

In what case would Fletcher argue that euthanasia would be wrong?

Answer 40

If someone is pressured into euthanasia by their family who are greedy for inheritance or by society making them feel like a failure or a burden - this means euthanasia would not be done in a loving way, therefore Fletcher argues it is wrong.

Question 41

What is Barclay's critique of situation ethics?

Answer 41

People are not perfectly loving so if given the power to judge what is good or bad, people will do selfish or even cruel things.

Question 42

What does Mother Theresa say that would support the Natural Law approach to euthanasia?

Answer 42

“the greatest threat to world peace is abortion. If a mother can kill her own child in her own womb, what is left to stop us from killing one another?”

Question 43

How is the doctrine of double effect applied to euthanasia?

Answer 43

Sometimes doctors can stop or withdraw treatment (passive euthanasia) or even administer pain medication which could speed up death. So long as the intention is not to kill, the double effect would suggest such actions can be morally acceptable.

Question 44

What is a critique of the idea of something being outdated in regard to Natural Law?

Answer 44

Outdated does not necessarily mean that something is wrong - public opinion shifting doesn’t invalidate a moral framework.

Question 45

Sociologically, how could the premise of natural law be supported in regard to euthanasia?

Answer 45

These ethical principles were created to be useful in the socio-economic conditions of their time. Ancient and Medieval society was more chaotic, strict rules were important to hold society together and because people were not educated nor civilised enough to be trusted with the freedom to interpret their application - violence and killing was much more common and therefore needed to be strongly restricted.