Mercy Killing Tay-Sachs Disease, Essay Example

Author’s Note

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Abstract

This paper tackles the definition and context of mercy killing as it relates to the case of a child suffering from Tay-Sachs Disease. This paper also discusses the options of the parents to have another child given the 1 out of 4 chances that the child might have Tay-Sachs Disease.

Mercy Killing Tay-Sachs Disease

Mercy killing is defined as the manner of speeding up the death process of a person with a terminal illness that is causing extreme pain and suffering by withholding treatment or taking measures to cause a peaceful death. However, in the case given, the application of mercy killing is clouded with ambiguity. This is because of the fact that in order for act of mercy killing of a child to be legal, a child must be able to understand the choice of death over living with the disease and the pain. In addition, it should only be performed by a physician (Smets, et.al, 2010). This is to prevent people (more specifically adults) in harming their children in the guise of mercy killing as the act in itself is subject to abuse. Such requirements are missing in the case given. Hence, there is no justification for mercy killing. It is true that it is hard for parents to see their children suffer such as in the case of children with Tay-Sachs disease. But the truth is death is not the main goal to ease the suffering. Compassion is not only shown through mercy-killing. Rather, compassion is also an act of being by the child’s side all the time, by showing love and affection even in the direst of moments of pain and suffering. More importantly, the parents must understand that there is also joy and hope in the face of suffering and pain.

Parents’ Options

Since the couple both carry the Tay-Sachs genes that can be passed on to their children genetically, they can do the pre-implantation diagnosis- a process that resembles in-vitro fertilization (Shulman & Bostrom, 2014). The eggs from the mother will be collected and fertilized by the sperm of the father in a laboratory. The embryos will then be tested for Tay-Sachs disease. The unaffected embryos will be implanted to the uterus of the mother to result in pregnancy. In this way, the parents are guaranteed that the child or children they will conceive will not have Tay-Sachs disease.

References

Shulman, C. & Bostrom N. (2014). Embryo selection for cognitive enhancement: Curiosity of game-changer? Global Policy, 5(1): 85-92.

Smets, T., Bilsen, J., Cohen, J., Rurup, M., & Deliens, L. (2010). Legal euthanasia in Belgium: Characteristics of all reported euthanasia cases. Med Care, 48: 187-192.