The Morality of Euthanasia Technology has brought about drastic changes in the morality of todays society. One organization it has greatly effected is the medical field. Few would argue with the fact that medical technology has greatly improved the quality of life. However, with doctors and other health care workers having the authority to contribute to both the patients well-being and inevitable death, society believes there should be limits to best serve the patients wishes. The controversial issue that society now stands against, and questions is the practice of euthanasia. Is this medical advancement ethical? Attitudes towards death changed rapidly in the twentieth century as a result of the tremendous advances in medicine. Hiding the approaching death for as long as possible from the patient, which many think of as contemporary behavior, actually started in the second half of the nineteenth century. Doctors and families both thought it would be too stressful (Knopf 5) for the patient to know there is no hope (Knopf 5). The family was no longer gathered by the bedside, for fear of alarming the patient, and the priest was not summoned to perform the last rites until the patient had lost consciousness or already has died. The clergy protested, causing Vatican II to change the traditional name of Extreme Unction to Anointing of the sick (Knopf 5) so that the priest could come at any time during a serious illness. Families sacrificed final words of farewell with loved ones because any conversations dealing with impending death were banned. The mid-twentieth century brought death out of the home and into the hospital, further removing the dying person from his family and spirituality. The image of the dying person became a patient in a sterile hospital room with tubes attached to virtually every orifice of the body (Knopf 5). It had come under the control of the doctor who could manipulate the time and ...
