Euthanasia By supporters is euphemistically referred to as “mercy killing,” the Church defines euthanasia as

1. Euthanasia By supporters is euphemistically referred to as “mercy killing,” the Church defines euthanasia as “an action or omission which of itself and by intention causes death, with the purpose of eliminating all suffering” (Evangelium Vitae, 65).

2. Euthanasia This is not the same thing as forgoing medical treatment which no longer corresponds to the real situation of the patient either because they are disproportionate to any expected results or because they impose an excessive burden on the patient and his family (cf Evangelium Vitae Ibid). For the Church has always taught that “one can in conscience ‘refuse forms of treatments that would only secure a precarious and burdensome prolongation of life, so long as the normal care due to a sick person in similar cases is not interrupted’” (Ibid)

3. Euthanasia There is always a moral obligation to take care of oneself and to allow others to take care for us, the Holy Father continued, “but this duty must take account of concrete circumstances. It needs to be determined whether the means of treatment available are objectively proportionate to the prospects for improvement. To forgo extraordinary or disproportionate means is not the equivalent of suicide or euthanasia; rather expresses acceptance of the human condition in the face of death.” (Ibid)

4. Euthanasia Proponents of euthanasia, “death with dignity,” and physician-assisted suicide present their case through emotional arguments that focus on • people’s fear of suffering through unbearable pain, • loss of independence and personal dignity, • and expressive but futile treatment that only drag out the dying process and put the patient through a living hell.

5. Euthanasia However, when their arguments are reduced to their true substance, they come down to the following: 1.    You would kill an animal in pain. Why not do as much for a human being. 2.    Why condemn anyone to expend their final days in misery? 3.    Mercy killing or physician-assisted suicide would be painless. 4.    Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide would relieve the family of a financial burden and an emotional strain. 5.    Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide would also relieve society of a financial burden.

6. Reason why Euthanasia is wrong Despite the emotional arguments, however, there are many reasons why the legalized killing of patients with lethal drugs or by other means would be morally and socially wrong: 1.    Legalized euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide entail the direct killing of persons. 2.    Killing is incompatible with caring, and it is the elderly, the disabled, and the poor who will be put at risk. 3.    The purpose of the medical profession is to preserve life, not destroy it. Doctors who cure and heal should not be agents of death. Legalized euthanasia would make a doctor a person to be feared rather than a person be trusted. 4.    The legal permission to die can easily become the duty to die. Terminally ill patients will feel pressured to die spare their families or their communities an emotional and financial burden. 5.    Unscrupulous persons will try to arrange for the death of an enemy or a wealthy relative. 6.    Doctors in the Netherlands, where physician-assisted suicide has been legal for years, annually kill hundreds of patients who did not request death. 7.    Legalized euthanasia would lessen the in