Pros And Cons Of Voluntary Active Euthanasia

A modern ethical dilemma in the field of medicine is the morality of Euthanasia. Euthanasia is defined as, “directly or indirectly bringing about the death of another person for that person’s sake” (Vaughn 626). Euthanasia itself can be divided into two different forms, active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. According to Vaughn, “[a]ctive euthanasia is killing, while passive euthanasia is letting die” (626). Through voluntary passive euthanasia, a person dies only through the inaction of another person. In voluntary active euthanasia, a person chooses to die as a direct result of an action taken by another person. In this paper, I will argue why passive euthanasia may be morally permissible while active euthanasia is never morally permissible

Since death is inevitable for everyone, is it fair to say that a doctor who does not administer futile treatment to a dying individual is killing that person, and therefore, is culpable for their death? I do not think that it is fair to say that this is the case. A physician only kills a patient when life-saving measures are not performed, or when the physician actively euthanizes a patient. However, voluntary passive euthanasia is an exception to the notion that not administering life-saving measures should be considered killing, and intead should be viewed as a form of letting die. Due to the right to autonomy, if a patient refuses treatment, the physician is only letting the patient die rather than killing them. This is because it is the actions and decisions of the patient in this case that are causing death and not the physician. On the other hand, voluntary active euthanasia can be considered killing instead of letting die because the physician exercises his or her right to autonomy when he or she administers a lethal injection, a self-determined action. In the case of passive euthanasia, the effect is the same as if the patient had exercised his or her right to autonomy to never visited a physician in the first place. Either way, the patient dies. Voluntary active euthanasia on the other hand is different. It is only through the doctor’s actions, the actions of an individual who is not the victim, that can cause death. Therefore, those who commit voluntary active euthanasia are more culpable for the patient’s death than those who perform voluntary passive