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The Pros And Cons Of Active Euthanasia

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The conventional doctrine endorsed by the American Medical Association states that passive euthanasia (letting die) is morally permissible. However, active euthanasia (assisting patients die) is never morally permissible because it’s like killing the patient instead of letting the patient die naturally. Active euthanasia is taking a direct action to kill a patient and on the other hand, passive euthanasia is withholding treatments to let the patient die (letting die). Rachels (1975) disagrees with the American Medical Association because he supports active euthanasia contrary to the position of this body. According to Rachels, active euthanasia reduces the pain of the patients who would otherwise die even without the injection. In other words, there are no significant differences between letting a person die and killing a person, who will still perish in the end. Rachels refutes the claim of the American Medical Association that does not support intentional termination of the life of the patient or what is referred to as mercy killing. In her view, doctors only uphold their legal mandate by not engaging in the mercy killing and ignoring their moral duty to ensure the patient die without pain. The doctors only seek to avoid legal responsibility by letting the patient die instead of killing the patient. Alternatively, passive euthanasia allows the patient to die naturally while the active one requires the doctor to take action to terminate the life of the patient. As such, by

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