Ethical issues: euthanasia and bioethics

Ethical issues: euthanasia and bioethics

There are many significant ethical issues that remain unresolved and invite more discussion by the general public. Ethics involves the sphere of interpersonal, group, and community politics at the level of values and looks at our proper relations, our duties to each other, individually and collectively.

Beginning with the Magna Carta and flowering in the 18th century, the idea of "rights" emerged. The problem is that these issues were perceived as existing as such. Nowadays we have become aware that rights are negotiated, they are social arrangements. Lately, the "unborn," and even animals, are viewed as having "rights," ethics has expanded to explore who should have which rights. So it is worth while to stand back and consider what these issues are in contemporary culture.

One of the best examples of controversial ethical issues is euthanasia. It is the intentional killing of a person, for compassionate motives, whether the killing is by a direct action, such as a lethal injection, or by failing to perform an action necessary to maintain life. Mercy killing, which is the synonym of euthanasia, is proposed for those with terminal illness with severe suffering.

Voluntary euthanasia was first adopted in Australia in 1995. Although the law was technically the first in the world to permit euthanasia, other countries have permissive laws on the subject. In the Netherlands, euthanasia is technically illegal, but lawmakers approved guidelines that let doctors help patients commit suicide under certain conditions.

In the United States, a federal court blocked voluntary euthanasia legislation from taking effect in Oregon, despite its approval in referendum. Similar measures were defeated in Washington and California.

There are completely different opinions on this problem. One point of view is that it is normal to defend the rights to end one’s life.  Some people say that if you disagree with voluntary euthanasia, do not use it, but you should not deny the right of another person to use it if he or she wants to.

On the other hand, the majority still denounces legal euthanasia as shameful and considers it to be a murder. The Church and all religious people condemn it. Besides, the concept of euthanasia has recently been extended to include not only people with incurable diseases but those who wish to die for some relatively trivial social reasons, such as being tired of life. And there is no need to say that such acts are against the code of ethics.