Can someone give me an example of a merciful killing?

Question

Or tell me what a merciful killing is?

Answer 1

From what I understand, this usually refers to death in circumstances surrounding health scenarios; especially in regards to those facing chronic, terminal illness. Eg.One who is suffering from incurable cancer.

Euthanasia, which literally means 'good death' in ancient Greek, would be an example of this. Therein lies a lot of ethical dilemmas:

-Is it right to terminate another's life, even if it does provide them a means of a more 'pleasant' death?

-Who has the right to take away the life of another? Is it not intrinsically wrong to take a life, despite the circumstances which surround it?

-Does the patient themself not have a right to the way in which they choose what is done to them (patient autonomy)? Do we not all have rights to medical treatment that we choose?

Aside, some other points to consider for interest...

In terms of progression of treatment, you'd be looking at the order of:

'Natural death' from degeneration or illness VS

'Palliative care' - relief of suffering in a terminally ill patient VS

'Euthanasia' - 'good death' or patient-assisted death (mercy killing)

This has caused a lot of headaches in the medico-legal fields. To get around ethical issues arising from situations like this, principles like the 'doctrine of double effect' have arisen.

Hope this helps!