17;s pain you are not doing him or her injury, by allowing someone to suffer needlessly, you are. Another moral issue to take into consideration is that we must always obey the wishes of a rational person regarding their well being. While most people are considered happy, healthy, and leading a “good” life in general, life is not always good. Everyone has a right to life but it is what a person wants that counts (AE 244). According to the theories of utilitarian ethics, in life, pleasure is the only intrinsic value and pain is the only intrinsic evil. When continuing to live causes a person so much pain that it brings more evil than good a utilitarian could concede that physician aided suicide is indeed moral, possibly more moral than allowing that person to continue living. When making a decision, a utilitarian would consider which act would best support utility, which is described as “an act that promotes the most overall happiness” (Pojman 223). In cases where a person’s quality of life has diminished considerably, an act of euthanasia would best support utility. If a person feels they can do no good and have become a burden to the ones they love most, the choice of euthanasia produces the most desirable results. This concept personifies the most basic principle of utilitarian ethics “the greatest happiness for the greatest number”. After considering the ideals of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, two highly esteemed philosophers, the debate over whether euthanasia is moral or immoral becomes nil. Although it can be argued that euthanasia is not a “natural death” it can also be argued that life saving devices, medicines, and organ transplants are not natural. Just as doctors have been applauded for engineering new life saving techniques, we should applaud doctors who campaign for and engineer humane methods of physician aided suicide. Your life should be your own...
