Beginning of Essay
Euthanasia is a very controversial topic, one that provokes both anger and sympathy. There are considered to be two kinds of euthanasia: passive and active. Passive euthanasia is to withhold treatment and allow a patient to die of his or her given disease. Act ....

Middle of Essay
.... give his argument strength and ethical merit. One of the biggest debates surrounding active euthanasia is its moral ethics. Doctors feel that “the intentional termination of the life of one human being by another—mercy killing—is contrary to that which the medical professions stands…” (Rachel, 473) and to commit such an act would be sacrilegious. However, as Rachel points out, a strong case can be made against this philosophy. In an example given by Rachel, he shows that in a case where a patient had an incurable, painful disease, passive euthanasia would be wrong. By withholding treatment, the doctor might be prolonging the pati ....