Ethical Differences Between Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide

Everybody in society has his or her own set of morals. Morals can be considered one’s belief on what they may consider to be “right” or acceptable. A certain individual’s set of morals or values about what is considered right or fair to them can be completely different from another individual. Crimes of morality are defined as “illegal activities that are against the law because they are regarded as threatening to values” (Boyd, 2015; p.375). Euthanasia is such a crime since it impacts society’s morals in various ways. Euthanasia can sometimes be called assisted suicide, but both have two separate definitions. Euthanasia is when someone knowingly takes the life of another person, in order to end their pain and suffering; the direct act of killing

There are many distinctions within euthanasia. The first is passive and active euthanasia. Active means that an outside party preforms the act of killing. For example, if my mom shot me because I was suffering from a severe disease, or if my doctor gave me an injection to kill me. On the other hand, passive euthanasia means when an outside party allows the person that is suffering to die by not treating him or her, or stopping the current treatment. The other distinction is between the types of euthanasia. There are three types of euthanasia; voluntary, non-voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary euthanasia is when the patient gives consent to preform euthanasia. Non-voluntary euthanasia is when the patient is not in the right state to give consent so another party makes the decision. This may be a family member or physician, for instance. Some reasons why an individual may not be able to give consent are because they are in coma, unconscious, or a child (child euthanasia), etc. Lastly, involuntary euthanasia is when euthanasia is preformed without the patients consent and is against their will (Rubin,

One of the reason’s making euthanasia immoral and deviant is because accepting voluntary euthanasia means accepting involuntary euthanasia. There is many moral dilemmas’ surrounding euthanasia. One of the dilemmas is regarding if voluntary euthanasia is accepted then there may be a psychological pressure on venerable people to act and make choices a certain way. For example, a depressed individual may feel that euthanasia is a good decision for care, so they choose the route of death instead of solving their problems or seeking other means of help to better their health. In addition, everyone may feel that they can always result to death without making an informed decision, thus leading into the issue of how to control the order of euthanasia. Lastly, euthanasia puts a pressure on society. For example, there can be pressure from family members on a sick person because they may feel as if they are a “burden”. If a sick individual’s family is paying for treatments and is in financial stress that can cause pressure on the that individual and they may choose the path of euthanasia. Therefore, accepting voluntary euthanasia means you would accept all these other reasons as to why one may choose euthanasia. All these factors make euthanasia “deviant” and immoral because they apart from socially accepted