The Promised RS Coursework questions!

[Urgh-My-Pancreas]

It may be useful to look at my other thread 'becomming a new dep' in CH stuff to get why on earth this is on here

Trust me, I'm doing nothing wrong, the whole aim of this part of the course is to ask other people their own views (religious or not) on the question! The topic I chose is Euthanasia, which may sound grim, but there isn't really a jolly option. Personally I find it more interesting as I'm not too sure where I stand with it and the other topics (Sucide, Abortion, Racism, War) I have quite clear cut views on!

So, there are two sections I need Christian Perspectives on: Sections B and C.

(b)
Explain how Christians my respond to the question of Euthanasia
- basicaly meaning what arguments would a Christian put forward to say that euthanasia is right/wrong
-eg. the Sanctity of life etc.

(c) the more interesting question if you ask me!
'Euthanasia can never be justified'
Do you agree?

So it would be a great help if someone could put forward their point of view, so that i can compare/relate them to my own ideas!

thankyou!
xx

[ben ashton]

Science is the answer; literally.

[Eruresto]

Ah yes, the fabled RS! We had this kind of Q in our exams - many fond memories of trying to learn the entire Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) for the exams! I only managed chapter 5...

b) I personally disagree with Euthanasia in itself, in the sense of assisted suicide. The reason for this is in part Sanctity of Life as you put it, but I also feel that when we get out of this world we're going to a far better one. One might therefore say that we are right in hurrying there, but I would refer those people to Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 -
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

That said, last Christmas my grandmother passed on. She was in pain, and she had them simply stop the treatment which wasn't working in the long-run, but merely keeping her alive and causing her agony, and then did all they could to make her end as peaceful as possible. This is OK in my book as they weren't actively ending her life; they merely let her go.

With regards to C, I think the above has answered that - hope it helped!

JJB

[englishangel]

Sorry for the loss of your grandmother Josh.

A very difficult one. Withdrawing something that is keeping you alive whether it be drugs or something like assisted ventilation is one thing, but what about the poor woman with motor neurone disease who was eventually going to drown in her own lung fluids, and knew it, a horrible way to go.

I have cared for a man with motor neurone disease who did not want to die prematurely and fought to the very last breath.

As I have no faith I have to say, to each their own, and I could not even say what I would do if it was me or mine.

[midget]

I agree that there is a world of difference between assisted suicide and letting go. The hospice idea of giving palliative care without active treatment where that would be useless seems to be the best option. Certainly a busy hospital ward is no place to die. A relation of one of my friends was given up by the hospital, he was in pain and near death. Two days later he was sitting up in bed drinking wine, with his family coming in and out. He had a completely pain-free and cheerful death 3 days later.

Maggie

[sejintenej]

As I see it, euthanasia is the active act of killing as opposed to allowing someone to die (with perhaps painkilling but not lethal treatment) of an existing complaint which will undoubtedly kill them in due course anyway.

You asked for the Christian view which IMHO has to echo the commandment "Thou shalt not kill".

That is not to say that I agree with that Christian view. Medicine has kept people alive far longer than in the past so perhaps in certain circumstances they suffer far more and for far longer (we sometimes say that "they kill horses don't they" in this respect). There are times when I feel that assisted suicide (which is effectively euthanasia) may be justified on humanitarian grounds but there must be more than adequate safeguards to ensure that the victim's wishes are honoured.

[blondie95]

they had a debate about this on that question show on bbc 1this morning.

[Urgh-My-Pancreas]

Ah yes, the fabled RS! We had this kind of Q in our exams - many fond memories of trying to learn the entire Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) for the exams! I only managed chapter 5...

b) I personally disagree with Euthanasia in itself, in the sense of assisted suicide. The reason for this is in part Sanctity of Life as you put it, but I also feel that when we get out of this world we're going to a far better one. One might therefore say that we are right in hurrying there, but I would refer those people to Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 -
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

That said, last Christmas my grandmother passed on. She was in pain, and she had them simply stop the treatment which wasn't working in the long-run, but merely keeping her alive and causing her agony, and then did all they could to make her end as peaceful as possible. This is OK in my book as they weren't actively ending her life; they merely let her go.

With regards to C, I think the above has answered that - hope it helped!

JJB

all i can say is so far, so A* !!!!
thankyou

[ben ashton]

A time to be born, and a time to die;

etc.

If scientific knowledge is given by God including assisted conception, prolonging of life and producing drugs to end it, one could argue that the ability and authority to make decisions regarding life and death has been given to humans..





Also nb. most bbc programs from the last 7 days are on the iplayer on their website

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Oh gosh - semantics, semantics.

My definition of euthanasia is, um, let's see, speeding the ending of a life in as pain-free a manner as possible to spare the patient inevitable pain and suffering.

My sister-in-law died just before Christmas after, IMO, commiting a very slow and painful suicide - she smoked like a chimney, despite watching her father die from emphysema and knowing that she is alpha-1-antitrypsin deficient herself, so had a greater likelihood of developing the condition, and also drank to excess. She actually died at home, was resuscitated (despite protesting that she wanted to be DNR, but never making a living will), and spent several days in ICU at huge expense to a money deficient health system, before ventilation was withdrawn. I do not class this as euthanasia.

I have observed patients in unimaginable pain being given increasing doses of morphine, as their tolerance to the effects builds, until an effective pain-relieving dose becomes a lethal dose. This is surely euthanasia, just as it would be if they were given the lethal straight up.

Could I give a lethal dose? If I could see no positive outcome from the situation, and the patient was suffering, I probably could: but when to give up hope on the possibility of recovery? I have made this decision for animals in my care (although our Vets have, of course, administered the drugs/bullet), always after very careful consideration, discussions with caring and understanding Vets, and seeing our pets quality of life deteriorate to a point where they seemingly no longer want to live. I have never regretted the decisions, and hope that I will be given the same loving attention if I am ever in the same situation.

Whooo, bit heavy for first thing on a Monday morning.

Off to give the cats a hug.

[Jo]

Not sure whether you are interested in the non-Christian view so I won't go into detail about my own views, but I can tell you about my dad's. He was a Christian (naturally enough, being a vicar!) and when he died, it was after refusing medication (except pain relief) and food for about 10 days. He had quite bad arthritis in his back and legs in his later years, to the point that he could only totter round on a walking frame and had to use a wheelchair most of the time. He'd been in hospital several times, once for a knee replacement and once when he fell and broke his hip. Both times he'd had a long slow recovery, with lots of pain and physio, and losing a bit more residual mobility each time. The last time, he got an infection in the replacement knee and was in hospital for about 10 weeks, and he really found the physio almost impossible. They were talking about sending him home (which IMV was quite unrealistic, although he was desperate to get home) when it was discovered his pinned hip had broken apart and would either need repinning or his leg amputating, both major operations. At that point he simply gave up and said he'd had enough. We knew it wasn't just a "down" day - he was adamant that he'd had a long and happy life (he was 89) and he just couldn't face any more pain or struggling to get about.

To their credit, the hospital was fantastic and made him as comfortable as possible. We had no idea how long it would be, but when he died, it was very peaceful and, by pure luck, we were all (Mum, both brothers and I) with him. His faith was very important to him, and he was certain he was going to a better place.

Although we were very sad to lose him, I can understand his decision. I don't think he saw it as either suicide or asking the hospital to commit euthanasia. I'm actually quite glad he had some control over the timing and manner of his exit.

[Mid A 15]

It may be useful to look at my other thread 'becomming a new dep' in CH stuff to get why on earth this is on here

Trust me, I'm doing nothing wrong, the whole aim of this part of the course is to ask other people their own views (religious or not) on the question! The topic I chose is Euthanasia, which may sound grim, but there isn't really a jolly option. Personally I find it more interesting as I'm not too sure where I stand with it and the other topics (Sucide, Abortion, Racism, War) I have quite clear cut views on!

So, there are two sections I need Christian Perspectives on: Sections B and C.

(b)
Explain how Christians my respond to the question of Euthanasia
- basicaly meaning what arguments would a Christian put forward to say that euthanasia is right/wrong
-eg. the Sanctity of life etc.

(c) the more interesting question if you ask me!
'Euthanasia can never be justified'
Do you agree?

So it would be a great help if someone could put forward their point of view, so that i can compare/relate them to my own ideas!

thankyou!
xx

Here is a link purporting to answer the question(s) you have posed with a number of biblical references.

The question was posed by a 14 year old boy so the response maybe a little superficial for GCSE purposes but it is useful as background information:

http://www.dianedew.com/qa-euth.htm

Here is another link, slightly American but nevertheless it addresses the main issues quite well from a Christian perspective in my opinion:

http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/euthan.html

[Mid A 15]

Oh gosh - semantics, semantics.

My definition of euthanasia is, um, let's see, speeding the ending of a life in as pain-free a manner as possible to spare the patient inevitable pain and suffering.

My sister-in-law died just before Christmas after, IMO, commiting a very slow and painful suicide - she smoked like a chimney, despite watching her father die from emphysema and knowing that she is alpha-1-antitrypsin deficient herself, so had a greater likelihood of developing the condition, and also drank to excess. She actually died at home, was resuscitated (despite protesting that she wanted to be DNR, but never making a living will), and spent several days in ICU at huge expense to a money deficient health system, before ventilation was withdrawn. I do not class this as euthanasia.

I have observed patients in unimaginable pain being given increasing doses of morphine, as their tolerance to the effects builds, until an effective pain-relieving dose becomes a lethal dose. This is surely euthanasia, just as it would be if they were given the lethal straight up.

Could I give a lethal dose? If I could see no positive outcome from the situation, and the patient was suffering, I probably could: but when to give up hope on the possibility of recovery? I have made this decision for animals in my care (although our Vets have, of course, administered the drugs/bullet), always after very careful consideration, discussions with caring and understanding Vets, and seeing our pets quality of life deteriorate to a point where they seemingly no longer want to live. I have never regretted the decisions, and hope that I will be given the same loving attention if I am ever in the same situation.

Whooo, bit heavy for first thing on a Monday morning.

Off to give the cats a hug.

It's not euthanasia if the PRIMARY motive is palliative care which is what you imply.

Euthanasia is where killing is the primary motive rather than a secondary by product of trying to preserve or improve the quality of life.

You may think I'm playing with semantics and being pedantic possibly but it is very important to be precise in a debate of this type as for the Christian MOTIVE is fundamental.

Perhaps that is one way of answering Part (c) of the question:

Euthanasia can never be justified, from a Christian perspective, as a primary act in itself however if death is hastened as a result of actions whereby the primary motive is palliative care then that can be justified from a Christian perspective.

We then comeback to the semantics thing: can an unintended consequence of death be described as euthanasia?

[Mid A 15]

Christians are also concerned about the "slippery slope" effect of legalising euthanasia.

We live in an increasingly secular and utilitarian society. The "religion of the day" (if it can be described as such) is climate change and the effect of man upon it.

Darwinists and other environmentalists have long advocated various forms of population control ostensibly to reduce mankind's effect upon the planet. Demographics at the same time suggest that the population in western countries like the UK is ageing.

In these circumstances, given the financial pressures on the NHS and the utilitarian philosophy of everybody contributing to economic growth, it is not a great leap of imagination in an atheistic society to see a scenario where old or disabled people are "euthanised" as a form of population control for environmental and economic reasons.

It is possible that it has already started happening given the lackadaisical attitude many NHS Trusts display towards hygiene in hospitals. The majority of those who die of c difficile, MRSA etc are beyond retirement age.


http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/by/1993----.htm

An (long) article by Peter Singer arguably the most eminent living utilitarian philosopher.

Compare and contrast with the Catholic Church of England and Wales

http://www.catholic-ew.org.uk/faith/liv ... anasia.htm

and

http://www.catholic-ew.org.uk/cherishinglife/cl40.htm

I hope at least some of the stuff I've posted helps!

[Mid A 15]

A time to be born, and a time to die;

etc.

If scientific knowledge is given by God including assisted conception, prolonging of life and producing drugs to end it, one could argue that the ability and authority to make decisions regarding life and death has been given to humans..





Also nb. most bbc programs from the last 7 days are on the iplayer on their website

If one adopts human values which are often utilitarian rather than "Godly" values how does one protect the vulnerable from exploitation and possible murder?