Euthanasia Conclusion

We therefore conclude that no one can claim to truly know whether, or in what circumstances, euthanasia is moral. So, while it is possible to try to answer this question by discussing the moral issues, it is not easy to say whether euthanasia is ever morally supportable. Of course, euthanasia should be differentiated from simple removal of life support from a patient who has already effectively succumbed.

The Churches, on good grounds, oppose euthanasia in all circumstances. We all regard life as sacred, whether in the religious or a secular sense. The Church position also helps guard against terminating an elderly person's life out of greed or other improper motives.

Others believe that euthanasia is not only permissible but proper, providing it is voluntary, based on full information, and is restricted to those suffering serious pain and close to death. Many concerns in this issue the maximizing and empowering of the individual, particularly the terminally ill elderly person, so that, in accordance with their beliefs, their values, their associations, and their commitments, they may feel free to choose the manner of their dying. Their choice must be an informed choice which rests on the physician sharing all aspects of the development of their illness or disease, the presentation of all alternative approaches to the termination of life, and patients' right to choose the way in which they will die

But like that of the Churches, this view is also understandable and defensible. What few would support is assisted suicide for reasons other than to end great suffering of the terminally ill.