The cost of ‘kindness’

Many people ask why we allow euthanasia for suffering pets, but not for people. Dr Denise Cooper Clarke explores the ethical side of this question.

Some proponents of active voluntary euthanasia and/or physician-assisted suicide ask why we allow much-loved pets to be killed in order to end their suffering, but not people. But do we really want to begin treating people like dogs? Dogs (and other animals) may be “put down” for any number of reasons, including not only suffering, but simply being unwanted, or requiring medical treatment that is too expensive. And such euthanasia is not voluntary - we can’t and don’t know the dog’s wishes. I don’t think anyone is proposing that kind of euthanasia for humans - because no one really thinks it’s appropriate to treat people the same way we treat dogs.

Despite the claims of ethicists like Peter Singer that it is “species-ist”, all societies (even those where euthanasia and/or assisted suicide has been legalized) have different moral rules about when it might be permissible to kill humans compared with those about killing animals. The Judeo-Christian tradition relates this to the doctrine of creation. One of the foundational features of the biblical narrative is that humankind is uniquely made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). This is the basis for the proscription of the killing of one human by another in Genesis 9:6, and although this is not absolute, with exceptions made for warfare and capital punishment in the Old Testament, it is a well established principle in both theology and secular moral philosophy that it is wrong to take innocent human life.

While the church as a whole, and the health professions in particular, are called to relieve suffering, this is not to be achieved “at any cost”. Nor can we expect, because it is not promised, that all suffering will be removed in this earthly life. Suffering is part of human experience, and unlike dogs, people may find meaning and comfort, even hope in the midst of suffering, through the presence of others, and the presence of God. Being present with those suffering and dying is a more costly but much more precious gift than acquiescing in their request for their life to be ended. We refuse to kill people when they are suffering, not because we value or care for them less than dogs, but because we value and care for them so much more.

Dr Denise Cooper-Clarke is the Adjunct Lecturer in Ethics, Ridley College and BCV (Bible College of Victoria)