Mapping the Terrain—Euthanasia & Suicide

The movement to legalize assisted killing is growing in various parts of the world.¹ In the United States, for instance, the state of Oregon now permits assisted suicide. The Netherlands was the first country in the world to go further by legalizing active euthanasia. Other countries have followed.

By definition, “suicide” is self-killing. Sadly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 30,000 people per year take their own lives in the United States and close to 133,000 are hospitalized annually following suicide attempts. But this is only about one-third the suicide rate of the perennial world leader, Hungary. Worldwide, the suicide total is about one million per year.

“Assisted suicide” involves enlisting the assistance of another person—usually a physician—in one’s own death. In assisted suicide a physician or nurse provides the means for a person to end his or her own life. For instance, a physician may offer an overdose of barbiturates so that the patient can take the drugs when he or she desires to die. “Euthanasia,” on the other hand, is committed when a physician or nurse actively administers the lethal drug to the patient. Euthanasia may be either “voluntary” or “involuntary,” depending on whether or not the patient requests it.

“Passive euthanasia” is sometimes used to describe the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. This term is seldom used today because of nearly universal agreement that there are appropriate conditions under which withholding or withdrawal of treatment can be justified ethically.

Finally, the arguments surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide often commit the logical fallacy of the “excluded middle.” That is, the arguments assume that the only options for a patient experiencing a terminal illness are either, on one end, an excruciatingly painful death or, on the other end, self-destruction through assisted suicide or euthanasia. Instead, palliative (symptom soothing) care offers an impressive array of strategies—including effective pain management and the gracious human touch of the hospice movement—to make assisted killing of whatever form even more reprehensible.

While taking seriously the problem of suffering, Kairos Journal finds no legitimate reasons to support suicide, assisted suicide, or euthanasia.² Suffering takes many different forms, including physical suffering, emotional suffering, familial suffering, and spiritual suffering. Physical pain should be treated with skillful pain management. The other causes of suffering must likewise be addressed directly, not by killing the sufferer.

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