The person in most physical distress is the one afflicted with illness and requiring euthanasia as a solution. What deontology does not recognize is the suffering of family members. Consequentialism also considers the suffering of family members, who are emotionally and mentally distressed by observing the long-term suffering of the ill person. They are also often in financial distress because of increasing medical bills. When considered in this light, voluntary euthanasia has the best consequences for both the ill person and others suffering as a result of the illness.
When involuntary euthanasia is the question, the same arguments could hold. When the ill person is no longer rational, such as being in a coma or in a much deteriorated mental state, he or she can no longer significantly contribute to society. There is indeed no sense of happiness or the promotion of human rationality. The person also has no hope of self-development or promoting the self-development of others. In this sense, it is better for the person to be allowed to die. This is even more strongly the case if the family desires the person to die. Family members face the same mental and potentially financial distress of those in the case of voluntary euthanasia. In this case, the best consequence for most of the persons involved would then also be to let the ill person die.
Another dimension here is that the ill person could yet contribute in death by providing his or her healthy organs through donation to those who need them, or for medical research. This final action would have far-reaching consequences that would contribute to the quality of life and self-development in others. In both voluntary and involuntary euthanasia then, consequentialism suggests that the best consequences result from allowing euthanasia.
Conclusions
In my view, the consequentialist view appears to be the more favorable one. Deontology for example suggests that, regardless of distress levels for the family or person who suffers, life must be preserved at all costs if rationality is present. Furthermore, the deontological view that consequences can simply not be foreseen does not appear valid to me. If a terminally ill patient who wishes...
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