Title: Euthanasia Fact Sheet - The World Federation of Right to Die Societies
Headings: Euthanasia Fact Sheet
Euthanasia Fact Sheet
Introduction
Voluntary, non-voluntary and involuntary euthanasia
Active and passive euthanasia
Actions and omissions / Killing and letting die
Ordinary and extraordinary means
Intending death and foreseeing that death will occur
Conclusion
References
Further reading

Content: The great eighteenth-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant, on the other hand, whilst believing that moral truths were founded on reason rather than religion, nonetheless thought that ‘man cannot have, the power to dispose of his life’ (Kant, 1986, p.148). Mercy for a hopelessly ill and suffering patient and, in the case of voluntary euthanasia, respect for autonomy, have been the primary reasons given by those who have argued for the moral permissibility of euthanasia. Today, there is widespread popular support for some forms of euthanasia and many contemporary philosophers have argued that euthanasia is morally defensible. Official religious opposition (for example, from the Roman Catholic Church) does, however, remain unchanged, and active euthanasia remains a crime in every nation other than the Netherlands. There, a series of court cases, beginning in 1973, have established the conditions under which doctors, and only doctors, may practise euthanasia: the decision to die must be the voluntary and considered decision of an informed patient; there must be physical or mental suffering which the sufferer finds unbearable; there is no other reasonable (i.e. acceptable to the patient) solution to improve the situation; the doctor must consult another senior professional. Before looking more closely at the arguments for and against euthanasia, it will be necessary to draw some distinctions.