Title Copy of Comp 2 Script A Annotated.pdf ✅

1 Script A Topic Area: Belief Systems Essay Title: How do attitudes toward euthanasia vary across the world? Word Count: 1993 (excluding subheadings) Introduction This research report will investigate how the attitudes towards euthanasia vary across the world. Euthanasia is the “act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons for mercy”1 . The ethics and legalisation of euthanasia has been at the centre of a heated debate for many years, highlighting the importance of exploring this issue in more depth. In order to fully understand the extent of this issue, the report will explore case studies both globally and nationally. These include the Philippines, the Netherlands and Hong Kong. However within the context of this issue globally and nationally, the report will also examine the issue from a variety of viewpoints such as those of physicians, patients, families of patients, and the Catholic Church. Causes & Consequences Euthanasia is not legalised in Philippines due to the strong dominance of Catholicism. Catholicism grew rapidly in the early years of being under the Spanish rule, and with 93% of its population being Christians2 , Catholicism has been the foundation of Filipino identity ever since. Consequently, the religion plays a predominant role in the administration of the Philippines; it started the People Power movement leading the downfall of President Marcos in 1986, and Philippines is still the only country in the world, with the exception of Vatican City, that lacks divorce laws, due to the Church’s strong opposition on divorce. The Catholic Church believes that life is a sacred gift from God and putting an end to it is therefore sinful and immoral. The primary purpose of all forms of euthanasia, active or passive, is the death of an innocent person, whether it is the direct taking or it is through removing a life-sustaining device, and the Church therefore condemns euthanasia. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reads “Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, 1 www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/euthanasia. 2 http://globalnation.inquirer.net/21233/philippines-still-top-christian-country-in-asia-5th-in-world Commented [F1]: Question pushes candidate towards description. No issue. Commented [F2]: The Introduction has not identified the debate clearly,nor identified an issue to be addressed. Commented [F3]: This section also includes perspectives. It gives reasons for different attitudes to euthanasia and looks at reasons for euthanasia and impacts of the different perspectives. Giving the title causes and consequences raises the question 'of what? an issue? or the attitudes to euthanasia?' Commented [F4]: Philippines/Catholic ChurchReasons for attitude explained
2 Script A or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable”3 . Therefore, due to the predominance of religious communities, the stand of the Church that euthanasia is morally unacceptable hampers the passing of the Euthanasia Bill in the Philippines. However, euthanasia is still practiced by some, mostly those from poor segment of the country. Though it is rarely justifiable to withdraw one’s life-sustaining treatment for cost reasons alone, costs of an Intensive Care Unit can go as high to 576 USD a day in the Philippines4 . Unable to afford enormous costs of life-sustaining treatment, some families in the Philippines have no choice but to use euthanasia to stop their families from suffering, and avoid medical expenses. With 22% of its population living below the poverty threshold5 , some argue that euthanasia should be legalised to reduce the financial burden it places on the patients’ families. Currently, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Colombia, Luxembourg and India are the only countries that have legalised euthanasia. Among these, the Netherlands was the first nation to legalise euthanasia in 2002. In explaining the Netherlands’ unlikely approach to the regulation of euthanasia, Leget (2017) points to their religiousness6 . A survey “God in Nederland” was conducted every 10 years since 1966 on the religion and philosophy of life in the Netherlands7 . In the report from 1966, “almost half of the Dutch population (47%) reported to believe in a personal God, with only 16% considering themselves to be agnostic, and a minority of 6% calling themselves atheists”. However, the latest report from 2016 has shown that only “a minority of 14% of the Dutch believed in personal God”8 . “34% of the Dutch considered themselves agnostic, and the percentage of atheists had increased to 3 https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resources/life-and-family/euthanasia-and-assisted-suicide/eutha nasia-catechism-of-the-catholic-church 4 http://liveinthephilippines.com/content/how-much-is-heart-care-in-the-philippines/ 5 http://www.debate.org/debates/EUTHANASIA-BE-LEGALIZED-IN-THE-PHILIPPINES/1/ 6 http://pamw.pl/sites/default/files/021_Leget_0.pdf 7 http://pamw.pl/sites/default/files/021_Leget_0.pdf 8http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/5319/only-13-per-cent-of-dutch-catholics-believe-in-heaven-survey- shows Commented [F5]: perspective of the church Commented [F6]: Phillipines perspective of the poor and reasons for their attitude to euthanasia Commented [F7]: cause
3 Script A 24%”9 . “A large majority of the Dutch (82%) never or almost never visits a church”10. Hence, with Christianity becoming “an unknown or exotic world” for many Dutch11, their society is contrary to many societies’ belief systems which uphold the sacredness of life. Naturally, euthanasia is not seen as an evil action which brings an end to life given by God, but rather as a patient’s right to relieve their own suffering, explaining the Netherlands’ supportive attitude towards euthanasia. Consequently, the Dutch euthanasia legislation has helped reduce the suffering of people with serious illnesses. In 2017, there were 6,585 cases of euthanasia, and in almost 90% of cases, the patient was suffering from cancer, diseases of the nervous system such Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson, as well as heart and artery disease12. The current legal position in Hong Kong is similar to that of the Philippines; active euthanasia is considered as an “unlawful act”13 and a criminal offence. However, the law does allow a competent patient to have their life-sustaining treatment withheld or withdrawn, known as passive euthanasia, under the guidelines issued by the Hong Kong Hospital Authority. Yet, despite euthanasia being banned, a household survey conducted by Chong and Fok who published a paper “Attitudes toward Euthanasia in Hong Kong” has shown that the general public of Hong Kong tended to support euthanasia, including active euthanasia14. Active euthanasia, when death is brought by using active means, such as an overdose of painkillers and life-ending injection received definite support, 9 http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/5319/only-13-per-cent-of-dutch-catholics-believe-in-heaven-survey-s hows 10 http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/5319/only-13-per-cent-of-dutch-catholics-believe-in-heaven-survey-s hows 11 http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/5319/only-13-per-cent-of-dutch-catholics-believe-in-heaven-survey-s hows 12 http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2018/03/more-euthanasia-in-the-netherlands-nearly-all-cases- in-line-with-the-rules/ 13 https://www.law.hku.hk/faculty/staff/Files/Ah%20Bun%20and%20Euthanasia%20HKLJ%20(2009).pdf 14 https://doi.org/10.1080/07481180590519769 Commented [F8]: perspective of the Dutch Commented [F9]: consequences of legalisation Commented [F10]: Hong Kong comparing attitudes Commented [F11]: Hong Kong comparing perspective of law and ordinary people
4 Script A whilst non-voluntary euthanasia, euthanasia conducted when the patient is in a coma or is an infant and thus unable to provide an explicit consent, received moderate support, and passive euthanasia, when death is brought by using passive means, withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatment, showed neutral attitude amongst the general public15. These results are reliable as the survey respondents’ education, household income, gender and age is similar to those of the Hong Kong Bi-census, and the authors hold a neutral viewpoint. However, the broad definition of euthanasia used in the survey may have impacted the findings of the research, since euthanasia translates to “an le si” in Chinese, meaning “a comfortable death”, hence this may have influenced some of the respondents to be in favour of euthanasia. The authors of the study argued that the public’s supportive attitude towards euthanasia is Hong Kong is because of the traditional Chinese value on familism. Chinese societies believe that an individual is seen as part of the family, and one’s actions are guided by one’s considerations for the implications on the whole family. Therefore, it may be the case that when an older person is seriously ill, the concern of being a burden to his/her children is so great that he/she would rather choose to die than be alive. The results suggesting the influence of age on attitudes toward euthanasia is also supported by another study “Euthanasia and old age: The case of Hong Kong”, a study investigating the attitude towards euthanasia amongst people aged 60 or above in Hong Kong16. Nearly all respondents agreed with euthanasia, repeatedly voicing their worries about becoming burdensome - psychological and tangible ones - to their family members as a major reason in supporting euthanasia17 The paper “Attitudes toward Euthanasia in Hong Kong” by Chong and Fok also investigated the attitudes of physicians in Hong Kong towards euthanasia, and 15https://doi.org/10.1080/07481180590519769 16 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247870249_Euthanasia_and_old_age_The_case_of_Hong_ Kong 17 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247870249_Euthanasia_and_old_age_The_case_of_Hong_ Kong Commented [F12]: Evaluation of source/evidence - range and reliability Commented [F13]: cause/ reason for attitude Commented [F14]: more evidence Commented [F15]: explores another perspective (Hong Kong doctors)