Euthanasia

Overview

Recall questions on sanctity and quality of life, voluntary, non-voluntary and involuntary euthanasia, assisted suicide, persistent vegetative state, active and passive euthanasia, acts and omissions, ordinary and extraordinary means, double effect in pain relief, the slippery slope, palliative care, and natural law, situation ethics and utilitarianism applied.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is meant by the sanctity of life, and what are its religious roots?

   Model answer

   It is the conviction that human life possesses an inviolable worth that does not depend on its quality or usefulness. Jewish and Christian teaching grounds this in the belief that human beings are made in the image of God, so that a person's worth reflects God's own. Islamic teaching reaches the same conclusion by a different route: life belongs to God and is held as a trust, God has conferred dignity on the descendants of Adam, and to take a life is to usurp a decision that is God's alone. What the three share is that life is received as a gift and is not ours to dispose of. On this view the value of a life is bestowed rather than earned, and therefore cannot be lost through illness or dependency.

2. 2

   Which religious teachings are usually appealed to in support of the sanctity of life?

   Model answer

   The opening chapters of Genesis, where humanity is described as made in God's image, are the standard basis in Jewish and Christian thought. The prohibition of killing in the Ten Commandments is read as protecting that status. Christians add that the body is regarded as a dwelling place of God's Spirit. Muslim teaching holds that the timing of death belongs to God alone. In each case the argument is that God's ownership of life limits human authority over it.

3. 3

   Do all religious believers hold identical positions on ending life?

   Model answer

   No. Roman Catholic teaching rejects deliberately ending a patient's life while accepting that burdensome treatment may be withdrawn. Many Protestant churches take a similar view, though some Anglican and liberal Protestant voices have argued for compassionate exceptions. Orthodox Jewish authorities generally forbid active killing but permit removing an impediment to a death already occurring. Muslim jurists overwhelmingly prohibit euthanasia while allowing futile treatment to be stopped. The shared premise is God's authority over life; the applications differ.

4. 4

   What is meant by quality of life, and where does the concept come from?

   Model answer

   It is the secular claim that what makes a life valuable is the presence of certain capacities and experiences, such as consciousness, the ability to relate to others, freedom from unbearable pain and some capacity for self-direction. Value is therefore a matter of degree and can be diminished or lost. The concept grew out of modern medicine's ability to sustain biological life long after these capacities have gone.

5. 5

   How is quality of life assessed in practice?

   Model answer

   Clinicians and ethicists look at factors such as the level of pain, the prospect of recovery, the burden of treatment, the degree of awareness and the patient's own account of whether their life is bearable. Health systems use formal measures that combine length of life with a rating of its condition when deciding how to allocate treatment. Critics argue that any such assessment inevitably encodes somebody's judgement about which lives are worth living.

6. 6

   Why do sanctity of life and quality of life pull in opposite directions?

   Model answer

   Sanctity treats worth as fixed, unconditional and equal in every human being, so it cannot be outweighed by suffering. Quality treats worth as dependent on what a life contains, so it can fall to a point where continuing brings no benefit. The first protects the vulnerable from being judged expendable; the second refuses to prolong existence that has become intolerable. Almost every argument about euthanasia turns on which of these is given priority.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.