Moral Issue of Euthanasia

Maynard P. Agustin

UNIVERSITY OF SAINT LOUIS
COLLEGE OF HEALTH and ALLIED SCIENCES


Karen Ann Quinlan. In 1975, Karen Ann Quinlan, then
21, was taken home from a party feeling faint. At home
she suffered respiratory failure and fell into a coma.
After being hospitalized Quinlan was diagnosed as
being in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) and after
several months her parents, who were devout
Catholics, decided that her case was hopeless and
asked that her respirator be removed. A complicated
legal battle ensued, but the Quinlans right to make this
decision was eventually upheld by the New Jersey
Supreme Court. However, after the respirator was
withdrawn Karen Ann Quinlan continued to breathe on
her own and she lived another nine years before
eventually succumbing to pneumonia in 1985. The
Quinlan case was the subject of a great deal of media
attention and has influenced subsequent debates
surrounding euthanasia and the right to refuse medical
treatment.
Nancy Cruzan. In 1983 Nancy Cruzan, a young woman
from Missouri, was severely injured in a car crash. She
was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state
and her family petitioned to have her feeding tube
removed. Testimony that Cruzan had previously told a
former housemate that were she to be so severely
injured that she would be unable to live anything close
to a normal life she would not wish to be kept alive
through artificial feeding played an important role in the
legal controversies over her case, which eventually
reached the United States Supreme Court. The
importance attached to Cruzan's expressed wishes,
combined with controversy over the reliability of the
evidence of those wishes were a major spur to the
practice of making living wills in which people express
their desires as to how they would be treated in such
circumstances

Elizabeth Bouvia. In 1983 Elizabeth Bouvia, who was
quadriplegic and suffering from severe cerebral palsy,
admitted herself to a California public hospital. Bouvia
expressed the desire to die by starving herself while
receiving care from the hospital. The hospital refused and
Bouvia sued them. She lost her case, although an appeals
court overturned the decision three years later.

Terri Schiavo. A more recent case, which received a
tremendous amount of media attention, concerned
Teresa Marie "Terri" Schiavo. In 1990 Schiavo suffered
cardiac arrest and fell into a coma. Several months later
she was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative
state. In 1998 Michael Schiavo, her husband, petitioned to
have Terri's feeding tube removed, against her parents
wishes. The legal battle that followed was immensely
complicated and lasted until 2005 when Terri's feeding
tube was removed and she died.

EUTHANASIA
Gk word eu- easy
thanatos death
Painless death
Mercy killing


Classification
1. self-administered
Active/positive euthanasia
Passive/negative euthanasia
2. Other administered
Active and voluntary
Passive and voluntary
Active and nonvoluntary
Passive and nonvoluntary

Active euthanasia
Act of commission
Peron end his own life

Passive euthanasia
Allowed to die without taking
medications or refuse medical
treatment
Act of omission

2. Other Administered

Active and voluntary
Is one in which either a physician, spouse, or a
friend of the patient will terminate the latters life
upon the latters request. It is voluntary insofar as
some positive means is used to terminate the
patients life.
Passive and voluntary
It is one in which a terminally ill pt. is simply
allowed to die by the physician, spouse, or by
immediate relative, upon the pts. request. It is
passive insofar as no positive method is
employed; the pt. is merely permitted to pass
away. It is voluntary insofar as this is done upon
the pts request.

2. Other Administered
Active and nonvoluntary
Occurs when it is the physician, spouse, close
friend, or relative who decides that the life of the
terminally ill pt should be terminated. It is active
insofar as some positive method is used to
terminate the pts life; it is nonvoluntary insofar as
the termination of the pts life is decided by an
individual other than the pt.
Passive and nonvoluntary
Is one in which a terminally ill pt is simply allowed
to die, as requested by immediate family
members or the attending physician. It is passive
inasmuch as no positive means is employed to
end the pts life; it is nonvoluntary insofar as
other persons make the moral decision to
terminate the patients life.
Positive side
Mercy killing
Preserve human dignity
Negative side
Hastens the death of the individual
Does not prolong agony
Different views
Garry Williams
Wrong
1. Argument from nature
2. Argument from self-interest
3. Argument from practical effects
James Rachel
Allows euthanasia to be humane, since
it does not prolong agony
Depends on motive and intentions
Different views
Fillipa Foot
Active and passive euthanasia
But with patients consent
Rachel Brandt
Ross prima facie duty
Active and voluntary
If patient has instructions beforehand then
it is our obligatio to fulfill his/her wish
Natural law ethics
Condemns mercy killing
Except for principle of double effect
Ex:
Giving of pain reliever with good intention
but with indirect effect of shortening
lifespan
Kants ethics
Preserve human dignity
Autonomous rational being
Ok with active voluntary euthanasia
Ok with active nonvoluntary if the
patient is comatose
Comatose
No self-regulating will
Utilitarianism
Greatest good for the greatest number
of people
If a patient is dying, it is better to
donate organs