Euthanasia

Euthanasia is based on the idea of compassion and is the committing of an act or the omission of an act that will result in death. Active euthanasia in an act that directly causes death. Passive euthanasia is the non-performance of an act that causes death. The American Medical Association’s rules allow a physician to practice passive euthanasia but not active euthanasia. In James Rachel’s paper “Active and Passive Euthanasia”, Rachel’s arguments concerning active and passive euthanasia disagree with the American Medical Association’s view. The main premise of Rachel’s paper is there are no moral differences in passive and active euthanasia. Therefore, in a situation where passive euthanasia is acceptable, active euthanasia should be acceptable.
Rachel’s first argument is that passive euthanasia is not more moral than active euthanasia, and may actually be considered less moral. This is based on the premise that the decision of euthanasia for the pa...