Statement on the term "Passive Euthanasia".

Foundation: Comisión Central de Deontología de la Organización Médica Colegial Española (Central Ethics Commission of the Spanish Medical Association).
source : Comisión Central de Deontología de la Organización Médica Colegial Española.
language original: Spanish.
Approval: Comisión Central de Deontología, III-1993.
Not approved by the General Assembly.
Publication: Revista OMC, May 1993.
Copyright: No.
Checked on 16 May 2002.

Statement of the WTO Central Commission of Deontology on the meaning of the expression "Passive Euthanasia".

In Spanish society today, there is a lively debate about euthanasia discussion . The Spanish Medical Association (Organización Médica Colegial) is contributing to this debate with a resounding condemnation of internship. Such a position, established by the current Code of Medical Ethics and Deontology (CEDM), is well understood by all when it is a matter of professional conduct that kills by active intervention (the misnamed active euthanasia). In contrast, such a condemnation is not well understood by all when it concerns professional conduct that kills by omission (the misnamed passive euthanasia). This lack of understanding is due, in part, to the misuse of certain terms, including passive euthanasia.

The Central Ethics Commission considers that, if the voice of physicians must be heard in any discussion of euthanasia, it is essential that their qualified point of view be taken into account in the definition of the concepts and terms used to designate them. With this Declaration, the Commission hopes to contribute to the clarification of ideas and to promote the proper use of words.

What is euthanasia in medicine?

The current CEDM states at article 28.1 that a physician shall never intentionally cause the death of a patient either by his own decision, or at the request of the patient or the patient's relatives, or by any other requirement. Euthanasia or 'mercy killing' is contrary to medical ethics. There are therefore no benign variants of euthanasia: all euthanasia is an act which, however compassionate in its motives, intentionally takes the life of a human being.

The CEDM's understanding of the term euthanasia is the usual one in the field of professional ethics. The World Medical Association association , the highest international body on professional ethics, states in its 1987 Declaration on Euthanasia: Euthanasia, i.e. the deliberate act of terminating the life of a patient, whether at the patient's own request or at the request of the patient's relatives, is unethical. The notion of euthanasia therefore includes, among others, the essential element of being a deliberate homicide.

There are active euthanasias by omission

The CEDM does not refer to the so-called active and passive forms of euthanasia at reference letter , because, from the point of view of professional ethics, it is irrelevant whether a patient's life is taken by an action that is carried out or by the omission of an obligatory medical intervention. In both cases there is euthanasia, since the death of a patient is deliberately caused.

The confusion of calling passive euthanasia what is not euthanasia

There are many who, when they speak of passive euthanasia, are referring to something that is not euthanasia. They mistakenly understand passive euthanasia to mean not providing or fail providing useless medical treatment. But not instituting or fail such treatments is not a deliberate homicide, but an ethical act, as it constitutes internship correct medical practice, replete with science and medical prudence. The CEDM, by condemning therapeutic incarceration, confirms, by contrast, the ethical dignity of the doctor who refrains from deliberately futile actions. Calling passive euthanasia what is a correct abstention from uselessness creates a dangerous illusion: that of believing that there is a virtuous variant of euthanasia. Killing a sick person deliberately cannot be sometimes good and sometimes bad, depending on the procedure (action or omission) we have used to achieve it.

Failure to provide medical treatment to a sick person may give rise to diametrically opposed professional conduct. It may be an intentional way of depriving the patient of life; in other words, it constitutes euthanasia by commission by omission: this would be a case of the misnamed passive euthanasia. It may, on the contrary, be a most correct medical conduct, because, if the patient is incurable, any aggressive medical treatment is already useless for him. In such a circumstance, the doctor cannot abandon him, but must administer palliative care to allow him to die with dignity.

In conclusion: there is no such thing as active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. There is only euthanasia, a conduct that is always deontologically condemnable, aimed at killing (by action or omission) a person suffering from an incurable disease or unbearable suffering.