Euthanasia: A Comprehensive Educational Resource for Teachers

1. Dialogue Education Update 3 Euthanasia THIS CD HAS BEEN PRODUCED FOR TEACHERS TO USE IN THE CLASSROOM. IT IS A CONDITION OF THE USE OF THIS CD THAT IT BE USED ONLY BY THE PEOPLE FROM SCHOOLS THAT HAVE PURCHASED THE CD ROM FROM DIALOGUE EDUCATION. (THIS DOES NOT PROHIBIT ITS USE ON A SCHOOL’S INTRANET).

2. Contents • Page 3 - Video Presentation on issue around Euthanasia • Page 4 - Definition • Page 5 - Euthanasia by consent • Page 6 to 8 - The means of Euthanasia • Pages 9 to 10 - A History of Euthanasia • Page 11 - Euthanasia in Australia • Page 13 - Euthanasia in Europe • Page 14 - Euthanasia in the US • Page 15 - Reasons given for Euthanasia • Page 16 - Reasons given against Euthanasia • Page 17 - Catholic Teaching on Euthanasia • Page 18 - Protestant Teaching on Euthanasia • Page 19-21 - Jewish, Islamic and Buddhist attitudes to Euthanasia • Page 22 - Community of inquiry stimulus material • Page 23 to 24 - Bibliography

3. YOUTUBE Video Introduction to issues around Euthanasia • Click on the image to the left. You will need to be connected to the internet to view this presentation. • Enlarge to full screen

4. Euthanasia • Euthanasia (literally "good death" in Ancient Greek) refers to the practice of ending a life in a painless manner.

5. Euthanasia Euthanasia by consent Euthanasia may be conducted with consent or without consent (involuntary euthanasia).

6. Euthanasia Euthanasia by means Euthanasia may be conducted passively, non-actively, and actively.

7. Euthanasia • Euthanasia can be accomplished either through an oral, intravenous, or intramuscular administration of drugs, or by oxygen deprivation (anoxia), as in some euthanasia machines.

8. Euthanasia • Intravenous administration is the most reliable and rapid way to accomplish euthanasia.

9. Euthanasia • With regards to non-voluntary euthanasia, the cases where the person could consent but was not asked are often viewed differently from those where the person could not consent.

10. Euthanasia • With regards to voluntary euthanasia, many people argue that 'equal access' should apply to access to suicide as well, so therefore disabled people who cannot kill themselves should have access to voluntary euthanasia.

11. History of Euthanasia • The term euthanasia comes from the Greek words "eu"-meaning good and "thanatos"-meaning death, which combined means “well-death” or "dying well".

12. History of Euthanasia • English Common Law from the 1300s until the middle of the last century made suicide a criminal act in England and Wales. Assisting others to kill themselves remains illegal in that jurisdiction.

13. Recent History of Euthanasia Due to outrage over Nazi euthanasia, in the 1940s and 1950s there was very little public support for euthanasia, especially for any involuntary, eugenics-based proposals.

14. Arguments for and against Euthanasia Reasons given for voluntary euthanasia: • Choice: • Quality of Life: • Economic costs and human resources:

15. Arguments for and against Euthanasia Reasons given against voluntary euthanasia: • Professional role: • Moral/Theological: • Necessity: • Feasibility of implementation • Consent under pressure:

16. Euthanasia Australia • In 1995, the world's first euthanasia legislation, the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995, was passed in the Northern Territory of Australia.

17. Euthanasia Europe • In 1957 in Britain, Judge Devlin ruled in the trial of Dr John Bodkin Adams that causing death through the administration of lethal drugs to a patient, if the intention is solely to alleviate pain, is not considered murder even if death is a potential or even likely outcome.

18. Euthanasia United States A key turning point in the debate over voluntary euthanasia (and physician assisted dying), at least in the United States, was the public furor over the case of Karen Ann Quinlan.

19. Arguments for and against Euthanasia Since World War II, the debate over euthanasia in Western countries has centered on voluntary euthanasia (VE) within regulated health care systems.

20. Euthanasia and Religion Catholic teaching Catholic teaching condemns euthanasia as a "crime against life".The teaching of the Catholic Church on euthanasia rests on several core principles of Catholic ethics, including the sanctity of human life, the dignity of the human person, concomitant human rights, due proportionality in casuistic remedies, the unavoidability of death, and the importance of charity.

21. Euthanasia and Religion Protestant policies Protestant denominations vary widely on their approach to euthanasia and physician assisted death.

22. Euthanasia and Religion Jewish policies • Like the trend among Protestants, Jewish medical ethics have become divided, partly on denominational lines, over euthanasia and end of life treatment since the 1970s.

23. Euthanasia and Religion Islamic policies • Islam categorically forbids all forms of suicide and any action that may help another to kill themselves.

24. Euthanasia and Religion • Asked his view on euthanasia, the Dalai Lama said Buddhists believed every life was precious and none more so than human life, adding: 'I think it's better to avoid it.' 'But at the same time I think with abortion, (which) Buddhism considers an act of killing ... the Buddhist way is to judge the right and wrong or the pros and cons.' He cited the case of a person in a coma with no possibility of recovery or a woman whose pregnancy threatened her life or that of the child or both where the harm caused by not taking action might be greater. "These are, I think from the Buddhist viewpoint, exceptional cases," he said. "So it's best to be judged on a case by case basis."

25. Community of Inquiry • CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR THE STIMULUS MATERIAL FOR A DISCUSSION ON EUTHANASIA. (You might like to print this material out and distribute it to the class.)

26. Bibliography Neutral (approx.) • Battin, Margaret P., Rhodes, Rosamond, and Silvers, Anita, eds. Physician assisted suicide: expanding the debate. NY: Routledge, 1998. • Emanuel, Ezekiel J. 2004. "The history of euthanasia debates in the United States and Britain" in Death and dying: a reader, edited by T. A. Shannon. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. • Dennis J. Horan, David Mall, eds. (1977). Death, dying, and euthanasia. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America. ISBN 0-89093-139-9.  • Kopelman, Loretta M., deVille, Kenneth A., eds. Physician-assisted suicide: What are the issues? Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001. (E.g., Engelhardt on secular bioethics) • Magnusson, Roger S. “The sanctity of life and the right to die: social and jurisprudential aspects of the euthanasia debate in Australia and the United States” in Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal (6:1), January 1997. • Palmer, “Dr. Adams’ Trial for Murder” in The Criminal Law Review. (Reporting on R. v. Adams with Devlin J. at 375f.) 365-377, 1957. • Paterson, Craig, "A History of Ideas Concerning Suicide, Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia" (2005). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1029229 • PCSEPMBBR, United States. President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research. 1983. Deciding to forego life-sustaining treatment: a report on the ethical, medical, and legal issues in treatment decisions. Washington, DC: President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research: For sale by the Supt. of Docs. U.S. G.P.O. • Robertson, John. 1977. Involuntary euthanasia of defective newborns: a legal analysis. In Death, dying, and euthanasia, edited by D. J. Horan and D. Mall. Washington: University Publications of America. Original edition, Stanford Law Review 27 (1975) 213-269. • Stone, T. Howard, and Winslade, William J. “Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in the United States” in Journal of Legal Medicine (16:481-507), December 1995 • Wikipedia-Euthanasia-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia

27. Bibliography Viewpoints • Giorgio Agamben; translated by Daniel Heller-Roazen (1998). Homo sacer: sovereign power and bare life. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3218-3.  • Raphael Cohen-Almagor (2001). The right to die with dignity: an argument in ethics, medicine, and law. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-2986-7.  • Appel, Jacob. 2007. A Suicide Right for the Mentally Ill? A Swiss Case Opens a New Debate. Hastings Center Report, Vol. 37, No. 3. • Dworkin, R. M. Life's Dominion: An Argument About Abortion, Euthanasia, and Individual Freedom. New York: Knopf, 1993. • Fletcher, Joseph F. 1954. Morals and medicine; the moral problems of: the patient's right to know the truth, contraception, artificial insemination, sterilization, euthanasia. Princeton, N.J.K.: Princeton University Press. • Derek Humphry, Ann Wickett (1986). The right to die: understanding euthanasia. San Francisco: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-015578-7.  • Kamisar, Yale. 1977. Some non-religious views against proposed 'mercy-killing' legislation. In Death, dying, and euthanasia, edited by D. J. Horan and D. Mall. Washington: University Publications of America. Original edition, Minnesota Law Review 42:6 (May 1958). • Kelly, Gerald. “The duty of using artificial means of preserving life” in Theological Studies (11:203-220), 1950. • Panicola, Michael. 2004. Catholic teaching on prolonging life: setting the record straight. In Death and dying: a reader, edited by T. A. Shannon. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. • Paterson, Craig. Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: An Natural Law Ethics Approach. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate, 2008. • Rachels, James. The End of Life: Euthanasia and Morality. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. • Sacred congregation for the doctrine of the faith. 1980. The declaration on euthanasia. Vatican City: The Vatican. • Tassano, Fabian. The Power of Life or Death: Medical Coercion and the Euthanasia Debate. Foreword by Thomas Szasz, MD. London: Duckworth, 1995. Oxford: Oxford Forum, 1999.