Arguments Against Active Euthanasia

Jessenia Parra

Mr. Burkowitz

English

1 December 2014

In crucial situations involving a person’s life, the topic of death often tends to arise. This topic arises from situations such as when one is in a substantial amount of pain for a prolonged amount of time. Then, the question of whether or not a person has the right to end his or her life with passive euthanasia, active euthanasia, or with the medical assistance of a physician, surfaces. Active euthanasia requires an action, by someone other than by the patient themselves, that leads to the patient’s death. An example of active euthanasia was “In 1998- when- Dr. Jack Kevorkian videotaped himself administering a lethal medication to Thomas Youk, a 52-year-old Michigan man with Lou Gehrig’s

The Hippocratic Oath was a moral code of conduct written by the community of medical practitioners of the time. In it, it stated, “I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and judgment and never do harm to anyone. To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug if asked, nor suggest any such counsel.” The oath was since then rarely used until the 1940’s, when the involuntary experimentation of innocent people by Nazi doctors came about. Albeit revised to suit modern sensibilities, the paradigm of ethical behaviors is now mindlessly recited by medical students yearly, on the day of their graduations. In the new Hippocratic Oath it states “I will allow patients to make the ultimate decision about their own care. In circumstances where my patients are incapable of making decisions, I will accept the decision of the family members or loved ones, encouraging them to decide as they believe the patients would have decided.” Supporters argue that the changes made to the Hippocratic Oath that prohibited euthanasia no longer reflects ancient practices or beliefs, therefore, upon request, a physician should, technically speaking, be able to provide a lethal drug for a suffering patient. In some sense, physicians who provide assistance in hastening death comply with the understanding of medical ethics to care for and meet

After long periods of routine work, people tend to feel dangerously comfortable with themselves, and tend to believe that they have more than enough experience to ever make mistakes. Take teenagers for example, they’re prone to get into car accidents due to this false sense of security that causes them to become careless drivers. For doctor’s the faces of patients are nothing but blurs, for they are accustomed to consulting with over hundreds of patients daily, therefore they are susceptible to misjudgments . “In 1973, Dr. W, while making his rounds at a hospital in Rotterdam, noticed that one of the patients was in a dimmed mental state. He then asked the nurse if the patient was suitable for euthanasia which after some hesitation, she confirmed. Dr. W then ordered that the patient's life be terminated with an appropriate intravenous injection. However, one of the doctors present protested, and euthanasia was not carried out. This woman doctor then asked what actually was wrong with the patient. Dr. W did not know the diagnosis. It turned out that there was no diagnosis: the patient had been admitted because of low-back pain, but the reason for the complaint had not yet been determined. The findings so far did not indicate any grave illness. The doctor