Comparing the Issues of "Active" and "Passive
Comparing the Issues of "Active" and "Passive" Euthanasia
"Passive euthanasia" is usually defined as withdrawing medical treatment with the deliberate intention of causing the patient's death. For example, if a patient requires kidney dialysis to survive, and the doctors disconnect the dialysis machine, the patient will presumably die fairly soon. Perhaps the classic example of passive euthanasia is a "do not resuscitate order". Normally if a patient has a heart attack or similar sudden interruption in life functions, medical staff will attempt to revive them. If they make no such effort but simply stand and watch as the patient dies, this is passive euthanasia.
"Active euthanasia" is taking specific steps to cause the patient's death, such as injecting the patient with poison. In practice, this is usually an overdose of pain-killers or sleeping pills.
In other words, the difference between "active" and "passive" is that in active euthanasia, something is done to end the patient's life; in passive euthanasia, something is not done that would have preserved the patient's life.
An important idea behind this distinction is that in "passive euthanasia" the doctors are not actively killing anyone, they are simply not saving him. While we would usually applaud someone who saves another person's life, we do not normally condemn someone for failing to do so. If you rush into a burning building and carry someone out to safety, you will probably be called a hero. But if you see a burning building and people screaming for help, and you stand on the sidelines -- whether out of fear for your own safety, the belief that an inexperienced and ill-equipped person like yourself would only get in the way of the professional firefighters, or whatever -- if you do nothing, few would judge you for your inaction. You would surely not be prosecuted for homicide. (At least, not unless you started the fire in the first place.) Thus, proponents of euthanasia say that while we can debate whether active euthanasia should be legal, there can be no debate about passive euthanasia: You cannot prosecute someone for failing to save a life. Even if you think it would be good for people to do X, you cannot make it illegal for people to not do X, or everyone in the country who did not do X today would have to be arrested.
In practice, though, the distinction can get...