1. Euthanasia
Passive Euthanasia: refusing to continue
medical treatment, leading to death
Voluntary Active Euthanasia: Killing someone
with their consent for the sake of relieving
suffering.
Non-voluntary Active Euthanasia: killing a
person not competent to give consent in order to
relieve suffering
Involuntary Active Euthanasia: killing someone
for the sake of relieving suffering without
consent when they are capable of giving
consent.

2. Reasons to support Vol. Active
Euthanasia
Voluntary euthanasia grants a person greater
self-determination over their life (and death)
A large part of human dignity lies in the ability
people have to control their own lives.
2 Sometimes a person may legitimately judge that
they are better off dead. Euthanasia allows
these people an escape from horrendous
suffering.
1.

3. Euthanasia is the deliberate killing of an
innocent person and therefore wrong.
Brock: All deliberate killing of an innocent
is not wrong. Passive voluntary
euthanasia is allowed to be permissible,
and that is killing, too
But is passive euthanasia killing

4. Is there a moral difference between
killing and letting die?
Brock: both are killing. A greedy son who
takes life support away from his mother is
just as guilty of murder as one who
“actively” kills.
Is this true?
Maybe in this case the culpability is the
same. But there might still be a difference.

5. Callahan: ending treatment cannot be
killing because the case of death is not the
end of treatment, but the underlying
disease

6. Good consequences of euthanasia
It would be possible to respect the selfdetermination of competent patients who
want it.
It would reassure the large number of
people who want to have the option of
euthanasia
Some pain and suffering can only be
relieved by euthanasia (psychological as
well as physical pain).

7. Potential bad consequences
Undermine moral center of medicine, “first,
do no harm”
Weaken society’s commitment to provide
care for dying patients (its easier to kill
them)
Some patients may feel pressured to
accept death because of a felt burden
There may be a slip into non-voluntary
euthanasia

8. Brock: voluntary euthanasia would likely
increase patients faith in medicine, not
decrease it.
Availability of pass euthanasia has not
resulted in a loss of the quality of care for
dying patients. Also the avail of passive
euthanasia has not lead to large
percentages of people taking this option

9. The slip to non-voluntary euthanasia can
be made less likely by the guidelines on
page 87
But its true the reasons for voluntary
euthanasia may also apply to nonvoluntary euthanasia (a surrogate making
the decision for an incompetent patient.
Brock thinks non-voluntary euth. May be
justified in some cases.

10. The slip to non-voluntary euthanasia can
be made less likely by the guidelines on
page 87
But its true the reasons for voluntary
euthanasia may also apply to nonvoluntary euthanasia (a surrogate making
the decision for an incompetent patient.
Brock thinks non-voluntary euth. May be
justified in some cases.