It also goes on to say, "I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my .
The Right to Live 3.
patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel" (Hippocrates, 400 BC).
Many people say that it is justified to assist in death because the person is suffering. There are arguments against this however, such as the one made by Margaret Somerville, the founding director of the McGill Center for Medicine, Ethics, and Law against those who support physician-assisted suicide. "Suddenly, at the end of the 20th century, when paradoxically we can do much, much more to relieve pain and suffering, we're thinking it's a good idea to kill people to eliminate pain and suffering" (Gosgnach, 1997). .
Even in cases of brain death, euthanasia should not be an option. Doctor Joseph Evers says, "To say that a patient on a ventilator, declared brain dead and is certain to die, is no longer a person, is to deny reality. Great care must be taken not to declare a person dead even one moment before death has actually occurred. Death should only be declared after, not before the fact, as to declare death prematurely is to commit a fundamental injustice. A person who is dying is still alive, even a moment before death, and must be treated as such" (cited in Appleby, 2002).
The religious community is unanimously against the euthanasia movement. In the Bible, the Ten Commandments contain a commandment given by God that says, "You shall not kill" (Ex 20.13). To assist in a killing even with the consent of the person still goes against what God demands. God is the one who has a set number of days for which we will live, and to take it upon ourselves to make our own plans is going against God's divine plan.
A man named Job, a man of God, was very wealthy and lived in the land of Uz.