Assisted Euthanasia is killing a person deliberately to for their benefit with the aim of giving them a painless death. The primary objective of this process of deliberately killing a person is to relief the patient suffering. The move is only made with the consent of a competent adult (Landry et al., p 1493). This issue raises a lot of ethical concerns about whether it is permissible to take the life of another person. However, health workers are allowed to terminate the lives of those in their care if the patient is seriously ill and the patient has voluntarily accepted to end his life to avoid prolonged suffering.
Utilitarianism theory of ethics can be applied to address this assisted killing. I have chosen this approach since I believe it is concerned with the happiness of people (Broad et al., p 209). That is; our actions should be aimed at making other people happy. The goal of assisted euthanasia is trying to make the affected person and their relatives and friends more comfortable. Morality in utilitarianism is seeking to make decisions that benefit many people (Shafer et al., p 414). I firmly believe that death is painful and no matter the form in which it presents, people will always be affected emotionally. Death through this way will not bring happiness in the face of many people.
Assisted euthanasia will not solve the problem, but it just leads to ignoring the problems already existing in the society. Changing this perception that exists in the society is what will bring happiness in the face of many people (Broad et al., p 157). This theory wants us to treat ourselves and others as a means to the end, and therefore, it is morally incorrect to use people as a means to the end.
Conclusively, although assisted euthanasia is essential, utilitarianism is against this practice as it does not promote general happiness in people. Our actions are only morally correct if they bring happiness to other people.
Works cited
Broad, Charlie Dunbar. Five types of ethical theory. Vol. 2. Routledge, 2014.
Landry, Joshua T., Thomas Foreman, and Michael Kekewich. "Ethical considerations in the regulation of euthanasia and physician-assisted death in Canada." Health Policy 119.11 (2015): 1490-1498.
Shafer-Landau, Russ, ed. Ethical theory: an anthology. Vol. 13. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
