Euthanasia Ethical Choice or Not - 1236 Words

In today’s society we are constantly being presented with choices that require our judgement on whether we believe that choice is ethical or not. Most of these choices are not things that we will likely ever be confronted with, and yet we are compelled to judge the moral actions of others. Euthanasia has come to the fore-front of these moral and ethical issues. Euthanasia is defined as â€Å"the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma† and is derived from the Greek words eu and thanatos, meaning â€Å"easy death†. There has been much controversy throughout history as to whether euthanasia should be legal or is ethical. In ancient times, doctors have two roles in society; to heal and to kill. Plato said â€Å"Mentally and physically ill persons should be left to death; they do not have the right to live† (New Zealand resource for life). This argument makes his beliefs on euthanasia very clear. However, Plato lived in a very non-theistic oriented society in which God was not seen as a personal being or entity. The existence of God as the one Creator changed many people’s views on whether or not they could consider mercy killing to be socially acceptable. Once the foundation of a God became established in society many people’s views changed as they now believed that only God had the right to give or take away life. Euthanasia is now illegal in most nations and is generally viewed as immoral and unethical. I personally find theShow MoreRelatedThe People : Ethics And Social Responsibility Essay1280 Words   |  6 Pages WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 7 OGBE MOSES E VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA For this week Unit 7 written assignment, I choose to talk about Voluntary euthanasia. A brief history and ethical and unethical dilemma of this topic will also be looked into in this assignment. 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