When Is Now Euthanasia And Morality Essays - Euthanasia

When is Now? Euthanasia and Morality David Yu Ewrt 1A-9C 12-19-94 "The third night that I roomed with Jack in our tiny double room, in the solid-tumor ward of the cancer clinic of the National Institute of Health in Maryland, a terrible thought occurred to me. Jack had a melanoma in his belly, a malignant solid tumor that the doctors guessed was the size of a softball. The doctors planned to remove the tumor, but they knew Jack would soon die. The cancer had now spread out of control. Jack, about 28, was in constant pain, and his doctor had prescribed an intravenous shot, a pain killer, and this would control the pain for perhaps two hours or a bit more. Then he would begin to moan, or whimper, very low, as though he didn't want to wake me. Then he would begin to howl, like a dog. When this happened, he would ring for a nurse, and ask for the pain-killer. The third night of his routine, a terrible thought occurred to me. 'If Jack were a dog, I thought, what would be done to him?' The answer was obvious: the pound, and the chloroform. No human being with a spark of pity could let a living thing suffer so, to no good end." (James Rachel's The Morality of Euthanasia) The experience of Stewart Alsop, a respected journalist, who died in 1975 of a rare form of cancer gave an example on the morality of euthanasia. Before he died, he wrote movingly of his experiences with another terminal patient. Although he had not thought much about euthanasia before, he came to approve of it after sharing a room with Jack. While growing up, each of us learns a large number of rules of conduct. Which rules we learn will depend on the kind of society we live in and the parents and the friends we have. We may learn to be honest, to be loyal, and to work hard. Sometimes we learn a rule without understanding its point. In most cases this may work out, for the rule may be designed to cover ordinary circumstances, but when faced with unusual situations, we may be in trouble. This situation is the same with moral rules. Without understanding the rules, we may come to think of it as a mark of virtue that we will not consider making exceptions to. We need a way of understanding the morality against killing. The point is not to preserve every living thing possible, but to protect the interests of individuals to have the right of choice to die. People who oppose euthanasia have argued constantly doctors have often been known to miscalculate or to make mistakes. Death is final and irreversible; in some cases doctors have wrongly made diagnostic errors during a check-up. Patients being told they have cancer or AIDS, by their doctors' mistake, have killed themselves to avoid the pain. Gay-Williams, The Wrongfulness of Euthanasia, stated: "Contemporary medicine has high standards of excellence and a proven record of accomplishment, but it does not possess perfect and complete knowledge. A mistaken diagnosis is possible. We may believe that we are dying of a disease when, as a matter of fact, we may not be. . . ." (419) Williams explains that patients who have been told by their doctors they have cancer never actually had it. But there have been so few cases reported that these remarks are often considered to be speculations. The individual should have been able to continue living until he felt the need to be confined to a bed. I cannot disagree with the fact that doctors do make mistakes, but they are more correct than they are wrong. Let's say that the patient chooses not to die but instead takes the medicines his doctor has prescribed for him. In doing so the patient is choosing for himself. He's making his own decisions; he could see other doctors to see if his illness had not been mistakenly presented. Is it not for the individual to decide whether she or he wants to live or die? John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, expresses his view on individual rights: "In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign." (629) Those opposing euthanasia have also argued that practicing euthanasia prevents the development of new cures and rules out unpracticed methods in saving a life. Gay-Williams says: "Also, there is always the possibility that an experimental procedure or a hitherto untried technique will