The Churchs Teaching On Euthanasia - Assignment Example

What is the Church’s (morality) teaching on Euthanasia? Introduction Euthanasia is one of the hottest issues strongly opposed by the Catholic Church (Anderson and Caddell, 1993; O’Neill et al., 2003). Just like birth control, and same sex marriage, euthanasia is definitely viewed by the Catholic Church as one against God’s natural design. This paper tries to discuss the view of the Catholic Church about euthanasia. In particular, the main content includes discussion of why the Catholic Church is strong in its stand that euthanasia is not about eliminating the pain but rather the patient. Furthermore, the content of this essay includes discussion why the Catholic Church defined euthanasia as an assisted suicide. Finally, the proponent discusses relevant information about the established argument of the Catholic Church that euthanasia is just an excuse for not providing better medical care for each patient. The concluding part of this essay involves the summary and informed opinion about the subject matter. Eliminating the patient Today, many people suffer from physical and emotional pain just before they die. Many of them suffer a lot in many years while bedridden. People who suffer from cancer for instance bear a lot of pain due to the fact that the said illness is meant to be experienced with excruciating pain to some extent. There are many available pain killers today that are said to temporarily relieve discomfort. Their effects are temporary that the patient will be dependent on them in order to eliminate agonizing pain. Thus, people who suffer severe illnesseses or diseases may still suffer intense pain from time to time in the absence of pain relievers. This intense pain from the point of view of doctors and other related medical practitioners and experts or even family members may be more than what the humanity can bear. A person suffering from severe pain may not deserve to experience it from a humanitarian point of view. Thus, euthanasia or an act of mercy killing has become one of the most debatable issues in contemporary time because for some it might be the right answer but for others it is the wrong way around. For instance, Catholic Church strongly opposes euthanasia. It is evident that the church strongly believes that it is a crime before God. Catholic Church believes that it is only God who has the right to take back our lives since He creates them. Thus, He alone has the right to destroy what He has created. Euthanasia as defined to be mercy killing is just a way to eliminate the pain from the point of view of those who supported it. However, the Catholic Church strongly opposes it due to its strong stand that it is not actually eliminating the pain but actually the patient. This stand can be clearly elaborated based on how the Catholic Church defined the value of life (Vatican, 1980). In this point of view of the church, euthanasia is considered a way just like of a murder in which the patient is denied from his or her right to live. This is due to the point of the church that with euthanasia it is life by itself which has to be eliminated from the person. The Catholic Church strongly opposes euthanasia because based on its stand, the very act of eliminating life of an individual even though it may help him from not experiencing too much adverse pain should not to be initiated by human hands. The Catholic Church strongly believes that when it comes to everyone’s life, God is certainly in control of everything in it. When it comes to the very life itself, God is the only one who has the right to set the appointed time for every human until he or she has to finally depart from this world. This is the strong point of the Catholic Church and as a religious sector, there is a strong conviction on its part to preserve life and allow God to take control in everything. As stated earlier, euthanasia from the point of view of the church does not preserve life because it actually eliminates it. Even the very point of it is to ease the pain and shorten the suffering of the patient; the church would never compromise to go for euthanasia in whatever best satisfaction there is about it. The Catholic Church simply wants to express its point that it is basically a sin to kill one’s life, which makes it entirely immoral in the eyes of God even the intention is to help the patient ease the pain and shorten the time of his or her suffering. The Catholic Church is therefore firm in its belief that pain by itself in the process of death is an integral part of being human. Everyone has to experience the pain in death in a natural process. Euthanasia therefore suppresses an individual to experience the right and natural process of death as designed by God. This is in line with the strong stand of the church that God is the only one who has the right to eliminate life because in the first place He is the author of the people’s lives. Assisted suicide Suicide is strongly opposed by the Catholic Church because after all it is still murder in a way and an untimely death for someone else. The church believes that suicide is a murder. As stated earlier, there is a natural process and time for death for everyone. No matter how good may be the intention of euthanasia, but for the Catholic Church it is an assisted suicide. In fact it is viewed to be like that by other sectors (O’Rourke, 1991). It is done by other on behalf of the patient just to help him or her experience less painful exit from this life. Everyone as believed by the Catholic Church has specific time to live on earth. Euthanasia therefore is an act that brings patient to suicide only then others are doing it on behalf of someone else. Since assisted suicide through euthanasia is defined by the Catholic Church as murder, it is important to consider that the concept of morality behind it may be determined by how the church exactly viewed how killing life is defined within God’s commandments. It is written in the book of law of God that someone must not kill or commit murder. It is because of this that assisted suicide no matter how good its intention may be is still part of murderous act that is strongly opposed by Catholicism. Assisted suicide is therefore based on the idea or concept of murder which definitely today has its face on euthanasia. An excuse Another important point of the Catholic Church is that medical institutions as appointed by God for specific tasks should provide a better medical care for each patient. The Catholic Church strongly believes that euthanasia is definitely an act or excuse for not providing the patient the better medical care they deserve. Ending one’s life through euthanasia is different from taking care of one’s need until his or her last grasp of breath. In the same way, the church is very firm on its stand against euthanasia because it does not give the patients the total maximum care they should acquire. As a result to this claim by the church, hospitals are challenged to increase the quality of their service especially for those patients who are best candidates for euthanasia (Gastmans et al., 2006). Patients need maximum care and the strong and firm stand of the Catholic Church is to give it to them to the fullest while they live. In line with this, health practitioners are challenged to give their best shots in everything they do. The church does not agree with the option to end patient’s life through euthanasia because it is the responsibility of health practitioners or family members to sustain and provide the needs of their patients until their last breath. In line with this, the church viewed that health practitioners and even the family should endure in the hardships of the patient and provide their best because it is through these that they provided their best care and love. Conclusion This paper primarily exposes the strong point of view of the Catholic Church on euthanasia. Its strong opposition to this act is guided by its religious principles. The very foundation of its stand is founded by the point that no human is allowed to take away someone else’s life. In short, there is always a reason to believe that euthanasia as either known as mercy killing or assisted suicide is morally wrong in the eyes of God because it is a sin. In this sensitive issue about euthanasia, it is clear that there should be separation between the church and the state. Certainly, provided that euthanasia will be emancipated and legalized everywhere, then people have the freedom to exercise their choice. However, the church is a huge institution with people in it who also have the freedom to express their opinion. Thus, it is evident that the Catholic Church is very influential when it comes to its belief on this issue. However, in the end, it is always the individuals or concerned family members of patient who have the final decision to go for this option. It may be morally wrong in the eyes of the church or God but people are still faced with different intentions and freedom of choice. In the end, either in discreet or open manner, euthanasia will still never be far as an option for everyone. References Anderson, J. G. and Caddell, D. P. (1993) ‘Attitudes of medical professionals toward euthanasia.’ Social Science & Medicine, Vol. 37 (1): 105-114. Gastmans, C., Lemiegre, J., and Casterle, D. d. (2006) ‘Development and communication of written ethics policies on euthanasia in Catholic hospitals and nursing homes in Belgium (Flanders).’ Patient Education and Counseling, Vol. 63 (1-2): 188-195. O’Neill, C., Feenan, D., Hughes, C., and McAlister, A. (2003) ‘Physician and family assisted suicide: results from a study of public attitudes in Britain.’ Social Science & Medicine, Vol. 57 (4): 721-731. O’Rourke, K. (1991) ‘Assisted suicide: An evaluation.’ Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. Vol. 6 (5): 317-324. Vatican (1980) Declaration on Euthanasia. [Online] Available at: http://www.euthanasia.com/vatican.html (Accessed: 7 June 2011). Read More