euthanasia
... to aid the death of another. Without governing laws, rights can be abused and care could diminish for defenseless patients. Legalizing “mercy killing” would change the laws for the person who does the killing, not the person whose life was taken. It couldn’t be applied solely to the terminally ill or on the patient’s request. There are several distinctions of euthanasia. The difference between active and passive euthanasia is whether or not someone takes action in bringing upon about someone’s death. If a patient chooses to be put to death it is considered voluntary, whereas in non-voluntary euthanasia the patient is unable to make any decision. Sufferer’s who would like to but unable to end his or her own life seek assisted euthanasia. Someone who is able to commit suicide would be considered unassisted. Active, assisted euthanasia is often comparable to suicide for the patient, while equivalent to murder for the assistant. There are two moral philosophies that can be applied to the issues in end-of-life decisions, utilitarianism and Kantianism. John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism is the theory that all human beings ought to seek the long-term pleasure of as many people as possible in all that they do. Utility means pleasure or the absence of pain. It emphasizes the matter of consequences and how they will affect everyone as a whole. Mill believes that we should act in a way that produces the greatest overall good, the least amount of pain. Immanuel Kant’s theory puts emphasis on the importance of a patient’s right to decide. Kantianism focuses on rights and autonomy: the ability to impose reason freely on oneself. Patients are entitled to self-directing freedom and especially moral independence. Kant claims that human beings have the ability to reason and the ability to decide on that reasoning. On May 5, 1980 the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prepared a written document titled “Declaration on Euthanasia”. This document firmly states “…nothing and no one can in any way permit the killing of an innocent human being, whether a fetus or an embryo, an infant or an adult, an old person, or one suffering from an incurable disease, or a person who is dying.” “Furthermore, no one is permitted to ask for this act of killing, either for himself or herself or for another person entrusted to his or her care, nor can he or she consent to it, either explicitly or implicitly.” The Congregation affirms that euthanasia violates God’s plan for a human being and is a crime against life. They claim that intentionally causing one’s own death or assisting the action in good faith is equivalent to ...