Proposing a numerical framework for euthanasia

• Main Author: Loh, Tammy Min Yu
• Other Authors: Olav Benjamin Vassend
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Humanities::Philosophy
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/147350
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Attitudes towards management of people with incurable or terminal diseases via the use of euthanasia are highly influenced by arguments that range from doctrines about sanctity of life to utilitarian (preferences, hedonistic) perspectives. The topic of euthanasia is a highly controversial moral issue, in which one of the challenges faced on a governmental and societal level in many countries lies in the regulation of the practices of voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. This paper aims to evaluate the use of numbers to initiate a framework for legalisation of euthanasia. The involvement of numbers arises from the use of predictive testing. The examination of the rationale of such an approach will unfold in two parts: (1) The paper will review both arguments about the sanctity of human life and utilitarian perspectives specific to active voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide and (2) considerations of the implications of predictive testing in the decision-making process and evaluate whether it is truly rational to do so. This paper aims to show that the use of predictive testing could allow for better regulation of voluntary active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide to enable more rational decision-making for individuals in situations of incurable or terminal diseases.