The Morality of Euthanasia - Essay Example

"The Morality of Euthanasia" is a decent example of a paper on medical ethics.
Nursing is amongst the most demanding professions socially, emotionally, psychologically, physically, as well as with respect to responsibility. People see a nurse as a social worker who has dedicated her time and energy to the betterment and well-being of society. This is why nursing is considered a very respectable profession. These perceptions of nurses in society affect the psychology of the serving nurses and they intrinsically feel a responsibility to do all they can to serve mankind. In this context, it becomes very difficult for a nurse to give somebody euthanasia, which is leading that person to the point of death when the individual is actually capable of living further as he/she is not having a natural death. Spreading love, peace, and comfort is the social and cultural norm of almost every nation in the world.

Euthanasia not only challenges and compliments the noble perception of the nursing profession in society but also offends social norms and values. Euthanasia is even not recommended by any religion, particularly if the individual is as innocent as Dax or Terry. “Euthanasia – active as well as passive – remains a controversial issue in medical ethics” (Kappel, 2001, p. 1). From a moral perspective, what happened to Dax and Terry is completely abominable and condemnable. In fact, on the grounds of morality, removing the feeding tube from a patient’s mouth so that he/she would starve to death or boiling a patient in order to burn his/her skin and body organs to death is nothing less than a grave and heinous crime. “There is no moral defense in these situations, therefore, the acts are deemed immoral” (Peete, 2002). Over the decades, there has been an improvement in the laws and regulations to the extent that today, people have been provided with the right to sign a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) with the health care center, but there is still a long way to go so that people are provided with the right to refuse being treated in such a brutal manner as Dax or Terry and take the decision of choosing from amongst the various options of euthanasia.