Ethics

When Faced with a Terminal Illness Should you be Allowed to End Your Life?

Stacey Smith

PHI208: Ethics and Moral Reasoning

Instructor Carter

April, 21, 2015

When Faced with a Terminal Illness Should a Person be Allowed to End Their Life?

Today we are faced with so many cases where people are suffering from medical issues, and more often than not they are terminal ones that there is no cure for, and unfortunately those people are left to be faced with the news that they might only have days, months, or a few years to live. They might be told that their health will decline quickly, or that it is just a day by day thing, and that the only thing that can be done for them at this point is to keep them as comfortable as possible during this situation. In some cases, people might not want to live out the rest of their life suffering, and relying on others, or to live in pain every day, or to be on heavy medication that leaves them unable to function normally as they use to. This is where one may ask, does it make a difference whether a person’s life is ended by an act of active killing, or simply allowed to expire.

I feel that the first ethical theory that can be applied is the Casuist Ethical Theory, and I feel this because it compares the current ethical dilemma with similar dilemma’s and their outcomes. The purpose of the Casuist Theory when used is to make sure that the best interest is being used, and this is done by comparing the outcome from similar situations to the one at question. For example, there have been cases where a person was told that they only have six months to a year to live and that the doctor has done everything that can possibly be done and it was unsuccessful, but only to have that person to beat the odds, and to survive for longer, but then of course there are situations where the doctor has given the patient six months to a year and they only lived for a few weeks before passing. While it is easy to understand how and why one would...