2007-01-23 20:35:21 · 8 answers · asked by Lhynne raymundo 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Could be if someone is in a lot of pain, you help them along to get it over with.
2007-01-23 20:39:16 · answer #1 · answered by Margaret 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When you kill someone out of mercy, as opposed to killing someone out of hatred, vengeance etc. Mercy is an act of compassion or kindness, therefore the idea behind mercy killings is that they are the compassionate thing to do. So if someone is suffering from a terminal disease, a mercy killing could be viewed as the compassionate course of action.
2007-01-24 05:11:55 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mercy killing is often called as Euthanasia, which refers to assisted dying. The assistance ends the life of a person or an animal in a painless or minimally painful way to end his/its suffering.
2007-01-24 05:26:26 · answer #3 · answered by Arnoux 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I once shot a woodchuck that had been wounded and worried by a horse and a dog to where it had no chance of either escape or survival. I was not in a position to have prevented the situation, so I shot the woodchuck once throughthe brain to prevent it's pain and evident fear. I saw no reason to prolong it.
I once helped put down an old horse because the family couldn' handle it and the vet needed someone to help hold the horse while he injected it.
Neither afforded me any pleasure. They just seemed the lesser of the two evils.
People are different. They have eternal souls, whose lives belong to their Maker. There are some forms of medical intervention which do not save life, but prolong death. But assisted suicide is not, to my mind, mercy killing. And brain death is not a proper definition of death, to my mind.
To make someone as comfortable as possible during the death process, I think is mercy. To sit beside them, be there for them, give them sips of water or whatever. But to try to run ahead of death seems to be to be trying to run ahead of God. But equally, hooking people up to innumerable machines which merely prolong that process does not seem to me kind, either.
Life support machines should be for supporting life when we know it has a chance to bring one through a crisis. Our abilities to effect so much in relation to saving life and prolonging life and prolonging death have created problems I think it very difficult for us to parse out easily.
2007-01-24 06:28:12 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
To kill the person in a medical environment. The excuse oft given is that we have compassion for the person and wish to end his misery and suffering. You have to be careful, for the road to hell is always paved with good intentions. To end a life for whatever reason is a serious business, and you must not create a precedent of putting innocents to death.
2007-01-24 05:42:21 · answer #5 · answered by Benvenuto 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To take away (Kill) un-needed suffering out of respect for the suffering. The idea probably came from ancient military tradition.
2007-01-28 03:14:27 · answer #6 · answered by vertigo_sickness 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is when you kill someone to alleviate great suffering of that person. When there is no hope for recovery, or the pain is just too much, you help that person take the next step.
2007-01-24 10:38:49 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
When someone is beyond medical hope and will die, then you kill them quickly to reduce their suffering.
2007-01-24 04:54:31 · answer #8 · answered by Ghost Writer 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋