ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses whether or not euthanasia is an acceptable solution when the limits of medical care have been reached. Old age is a time of life which for many can include a long period of rich, satisfying, and creative life. Dietrich Bonhoeffer allows for the possibility that a person may quite rationally take his own life for the sake of others. Suicide is also a temptation that should be resisted as a matter of character when it appears to be a quick solution of or escape from a tormenting problem, when living in mature life with such a problem may create or strengthen the virtues of loyalty to responsibilities, courage, and endurance. Passive euthanasia, in contrast to active euthanasia or direct killing of the patient, involves the decision not to initiate therapy that would prolong life, or the removal of life supports in order to allow the disease to take its course.
