On the Injustice Of Euthanasia. Using Compassion as a Mask. Reference to New European Documents on Bioethics

Abstract

The great challenge to non-accommodating bioethics is to respond to the argument that euthanasia should be considered a me- dical procedure protected by law. This article analyzes the relationship between human dignity and the sacredness of human life. The abandonment of dignity for other alternatives open to us implies renouncing a principle that, in its legal embodiment, has served a noble purpose since World War II. Moreover, from an ontological - professional perspective, the innovation proposed with euthanasia and medically-assisted suicide shatters one of the limitations to medical action that exists - at least theoretically - in the Hippocratic Oath.

The authors also attempt to deconstruct the use of compassion as an argument on the part of some, the effect of which is to stren- gthen the position of the person who is stronger or fittest. This occurs primarily with euthanasia and even in abortion. The described manipulation also constitutes the main obstacle to the progression from medicine centered exclusively on curing towards medicine that acknowledges the primary objective of all end-of-life treatment as being to improve quality of life, or at least to achieve that improvement by treating symptoms when it is possible to do so.