Euthanasia

大学の授業のペアワークの一環で，安楽死について調べたのでそれのレポートをのせておきます．

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1. 基礎調査

Introduction

      In general, talking about euthanasia is a taboo in japan. On the other hand, there are a lot of country where euthanasia is debated a lot. In some countries’ law admitted euthanasia.

      For example, in America, some states admit euthanasia if a person meet conditions which a state decide. The conditions are these;

1. A person's sick is difficult to recover and two doctors sigh that life expectancy is within 6 months

2. A person has ability of judging

3. A person needs to request two drugs for euthanasia

4. A person must take medicines by himself (a doctor is an assistant)

These rules look good. However, there are a lot of opponents, too. They have three main reasons. One is about religious. Therefore, it is a problem of ethics. Second is that, he weak in society such as the elderly people, low-income and disabled people are likely to select euthanasia. Third is that improvement of medical is more important than euthanasia.

      Also, in Switzerland, euthanasia is admitted not only Swiss but also foreign people. So, if Japanese people do it, they have to go to Switzerland. Of course, some people are against it in Switzerland.  

      In the way, there are a lot of controversy about euthanasia in foreign country. However, Japanese people even do not talk about it. This is because euthanasia is a taboo. In fact, when one Japanese minister implied that Japan should admit it, he was badly criticized by public opinion. Then, look at this graph.(omittion)

   According to this graph, a lot of people in Japan select euthanasia compared to other country. This result is in contradiction with a taboo of euthanasia. We wonder this.

   So, we take surveys to Japanese people whether they agree to euthanasia or not. And, we also focus on difference between members of society and students. This is because we think that they have a different idea of death or ethics. Therefore, while students do not think of death so much, members of society think of death relatively. So, we estimated that students agree to euthanasia, but members of society object to it. Furthermore, we also concentrate on difference between targets done euthanasia such as self, family, and pets.

   By the way, the style of this survey is questionnaire. The contents of 10 questions that is picked up in 12 ones is this;

1. Are you working now?

2. How do you think of euthanasia?

3. What is difference between euthanasia and suicide?

4. Who decides to plan euthanasia?

5. Do you accept doing euthanasia?

6. Why do you answer question③？

7. Do you euthanize your pet in critical condition?

8. If your relative chose euthanasia, what do you talk about with him or her?

9. How do you plan the end of your life?

10. Do you feel bad in your life?

And, a chart that put together answers is this;(follows appendix)

Pros and Cons of Euthanasia and a reason

In this section, we analyze Q4” Do you accept doing euthanasia?”, Q5 “Why do you accept doing euthanasia?”, and Q9” How do you plan of the end of your life?”. Although not mentioned, Q9” Do you feel bad in your life?” will be helpful.

Before conducting a survey, we made a hypothesis. We anticipated that the percentage of pros and that of cons were equal or the latter was larger. It was because euthanasia is prohibited by Japanese law and Japanese might think bad about euthanasia, such as obeying Confucianism or going to hospice instead of euthanasia, etc. In addition, Japanese medicine has very advanced life-spanning technology, so we imagined most Japanese would have their doctor these technologies.

The result of answers to this question is that the percentage of pros is 64.3% and that of cons is 35.7%.

Those who agree for euthanasia says that it is because they want to die without suffering, shorten the suffering period, or reduce the burden on their family. They generally answer for Q8.” How do you plan of the end of your life?” like wanting to leave a will, die in an instant, or die peacefully. Some of them say that each of them wants to go to the end as a lively person, as long as I can prolong life only if I use machines. Others think euthanasia is like an intermediary when I’m slated. We guess that they might think dying as struggling with hard illness. Considering of death unavoidability, we could infer that they want to make death better.

In contrast, those who disagree for euthanasia says that it is because it is important to live the rest of their lifetime. Other says that he wants to face the given life even though I’m suffering from illness only when there is possibility of surviving and effective life extension treatment. They generally answer for Q8 like wanting to be seen by relatives and their friends, leave a will indirectly using letters, videos, etc. Some of them answer with mention to leaving something for the next generation. We guess that they might think life is precious because they don’t know when to die. We also guess that they might think people have a mission to complete life, so they stay alive as much as possible.

Our hypothesis is wrong. The relationship between Q4&5 and Q8 reveals the way of thinking about how to end life and what they want to accomplish by death.

Differences in the concept of euthanasia between working and non-working people

              In this section, we analyze Q0 ”Are you working now?”, Q1” How do you think of euthanasia?”, Q2” What is difference between euthanasia and suicide?”, Q3” Who decide to plan euthanasia?”, Q4” Do you accept doing euthanasia?”, and Q5” Why do you accept doing euthanasia?”. Although not mentioned, Q12” When do you chose euthanasia?” may be helpful.

              Before conducting this survey, we made a hypothesis. We anticipated that there is no difference between them, because the view for something often relates to their experience which each of them had, not related to their year of age.

              Looking at Q4, among the working people, there were about the same number of people who answered yes and those who answered no. Based on the fact that many members of working people need the consent of not only the patient but also the people around them, especially their relatives, in the answer to Q1, working people are cautious about euthanasia. As people aged, they often present skeptical ideas about new things. In this case, mere euthanasia is the only way to escape the affliction of illness, and it would be a trivial measure, it seems.

              On the other hand, in non-working people, those who choose euthanasia are about 40% more than those who do not choose euthanasia. We speculate that non-working people consider ending their lives by euthanasia as an option. Furthermore, considering the answer to Q3, it is led that non-society people think that their life should only be decided by themselves. We think that this answer may also be influenced by the fact that the nuclear family that continued since the 1970s to the spread of individualism among Japanese youth.

              Our hypothesis is mainly wrong, but partly correct. Certainly, it is the experience of the person who constitutes the way of thinking about things. However, in fact, it is speculated that most of the experiences are “knowing that people are alive while interacting with others”. There seems to be a lot of places where others are influenced by me just as I am. Therefore, workers who thought euthanasia was negative thought that the decision to reduce the number of years they could live by euthanasia wouldn't help other people to promote euthanasia. It can be inferred that non-workers with relatively few years of living had less experience and felt so little.

Difference between targets of euthanasia; pets, family or self

                  In this section, we use Q3,4,5,6, and 7. And, we analyze whether according to targets of euthanasia (pets, family or self), we have a different idea or not.

                            Before conducting this survey, we made a hypothesis. We anticipated that there is no difference between pets and family, while there is some difference between self and others. This is because you have no responsibility to decide things of yourself. On the other hand, you have responsibility to decide things of others. So, we estimated this.

                            According to the result of Q4 and Q6, there is a positive correlation between a opinion about euthanasia of self and a pet. Therefore, a person answered yes to Q4, he also answered yes to Q6. On the other hand, look at the result of Q4 and Q7. There is not strong correlation. In brief, whether the target of euthanasia is yourself or your family members is not related. Probably, decision of others is respected regardless of self.

                            After all, our hypothesis is completely wrong. Then, why did this result? We think that this reason is that you can dominate pets and yourselves but cannot do other people. Therefore, if a target of euthanasia can be dominated by you, you can decide whether it should be done or not. However, if it or he cannot be dominated by you, you cannot decide.

Conclusion

Appendix: Examples of answer to question

あなたは社会人ですか？	１．安楽死をどういったものだと考えていますか？	２．安楽死と自殺はどう違うと考えていますか？	３．安楽死を行うことは誰が決めるべきだと思いますか？	４．あなたは余命あとわずかの時、安楽死を選択しますか？	５．４と回答した理由は何ですか？	６．自分のペットが危篤状態のとき、安楽死を選択しますか？	７．あなたの身内が安楽死を選択したとき、あなたは何と声を掛けますか？
いいえ	苦しまずに死ぬ手段。治療して延命するよりお金かからなさそう	自殺は自由な命の放棄 安楽死は不自由で不憫な命の放棄	本人 他人は助言し得るが他人が決める余地はない	いいえ	生き延びる可能性がないのに無理な延命治療はしない。そして苦しみながらでも与えられた命に向き合いたいと思うから。	いいえ	本当にそれで良いのかまず聞いてしまうと思う。ただ本人の意見は尊重したい。そして掛けてあげる言葉は見つからないと思うから、感謝を伝え寄り添う。
はい	機械でしか生命維持が出来なく、やむを得ない状況で選択する(お互い同意を得て)	自殺は生きられるのに、自ら命を経つ行為 安楽死は、やむを得ず。	その家族と、関わる医療者	いいえ	自力で生きる力があるなら、全うしたい	はい	苦しみが続くなら、それを取ってあげてもう頑張らなくていいと…
はい	尊厳死として法的に認められるべきと考えております。	安楽死は家族、友人と最後の時間を共有できる。	本人	はい	自分自身の深く考えた決断が必須	はい	今までありがとう
いいえ	人々の自由な生き方として認められるべき１つの形	そう言われてみたらどうちがうのかわからないです。	本人	いいえ	病気の辛さの具合が分からないからなんとも言えます。	いいえ	理由を聞く、一生の別れはまだ嫌なことを伝える。

We have talked about euthanasia on the basis on the surveys by far. Then, we will conclude the above.

In the introduction, we indicated that Japanese people do not want to talk about euthanasia compared to other country. However, as in the upper graph, it seems that Japanese people do not always disagree to euthanasia. Then, we want to investigate this in detail.

In the body, we have analyzed the surveys of euthanasia. We divided into three section;

1. Pros and Cons of Euthanasia and a reason

2. Differences in the concept of euthanasia between working and non-working people

3. Differences in the concept of euthanasia between working and non-working people

1.Pros and Cons of Euthanasia and a reason

  The reason why pros agree to euthanasia is that they want to die without suffering, shorten the suffering period, or reduce the burden on their family. On the other hand, the reason why cons disagree to it is that it is important to live the rest of their lifetime. Other says that he wants to face the given life even though I’m suffering from illness only when there is possibility of surviving and effective life extension treatment.

2.Differences in the concept of euthanasia between working and non-working people

  Working people are cautious about euthanasia. This is probably because they often present skeptical ideas about new things. On the other hand, a lot of non-working people choose euthanasia by themselves.Probably,they think that their life should only be decided by themselves.

 

3.Differences in the concept of euthanasia between working and non-working people

              there is a positive correlation between a opinion about euthanasia of self and a pet. On the other hand, There is not strong correlation between self and family. The reason of the result is that you can dominate pets and yourselves but cannot do other people.

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2. 発展

1. 導入

              あなたは般若心経について何か知っているだろうか．日本で生きていると恐らくどこかで耳にしているはずだが，その名前を知る機会はほぼないだろう．筆者である私は物心ついた時から般若心経を唱えるようにしていた．私のおじいさんがなくなった後，供養のためにお墓の前で手を合わせるとき，このお経を読み上げるのを日課としていた．あるとき，私はなんとなく読んでいたこのお経がどのような意味を持つのか．どういう成り立ちなのか気になった．

2. 問題

我々が3Qから取り上げている問題は，日本が安楽死の導入をためらっていることである．この記述の通り，我々は，日本は安楽死を導入すべきであるという立場である．しかし現状では，導入の可否についての審議どころか，その議論すらタブーとされている．

3. 般若心経の基礎知識

般若心経は、三蔵法師がインドから持ち帰った経典の中から、空の思想に関する部分だけを抜粋し、まとめたものである。般若心経は大まかに４つのブロックに分けることができる。第一ブロックでは、誰がどのようにしてこの思想を得たのか、ということが説明されていて、第二ブロックでは作者の弟子へのよびかけ、第三ブロックでは空の思想についての説明、第四ブロックでは悟りの境地に至るための真言について言及している。

では、般若心経ではどういうことが書かれているのだろうか。般若心経ではまず第一に、「永遠不滅で変わらないものはない。つまり、物事やその働き、存在はさまざまな条件が変動して、常に変化しているのである。」と説いている。さらに、死生観についても、「人は死ぬのが怖いとよく言うが、それは死後の世界がよくわからないからであろう。しかし、それは生前の世界も同じである。だから、おそらく生前と死後は同じなのであろう。」と言及されている。

4. 分析

この知識と3Qで実施した安楽死のアンケートの結果を重ね合わせてみた．面白いことに，これらの間に関係がありそうだと考えた．

日本ではあまり議論が進められていない安楽死制度の導入についてであるが，これはなぜ議論が進められていないのかは容易にわかるであろう．というのも，日本人の倫理観の根底には般若心経をはじめとする仏教観が備わっているからだ．3Qで我々が実施したアンケートの分析によると，若者の賛成率に対して大人の賛成率はあまり高くないという結果は，若者の間では人生で経てきた経験が多くないためであろうと結論付けられた．この分析結果と仏教観の分析を見比べてみると，大人も若者も般若心経の本質まで知らないか，もしくはそもそも般若心経を知らない状況に原因があるだろうと我々は推測する．

5. 今までの施策とその結果

今までも安楽死制度を取り入れようとする団体もあったが、安楽死制度の導入には至っていない。ある団体は次のように訴えている。

• 自分の最後は自分で決めたい
• 制度を使いたくない人は無視すればいい
• 耐え難い痛みや辛い思いをしてまで延命したくない
• 家族に迷惑を掛けたくない
• 将来の不安に備えた貯金をする必要がない

しかし安楽死の実現とはなっていない。この原因として、国民の倫理的な感覚が、人を殺すということに反しているからだろう。そのため、ここで国民の倫理観を作り出してきたであろう般若心経に注目した。

6. 提案と期待される効果

そこで，我々は若者をはじめとして現代社会を生きるすべての人に対して，般若心経の精神を学んで体得するべきだと提案する．これには相当の時間がかかってしまうものの，相応の見返りが十分期待できる．例えば，「永遠不滅で変わらないものはない。つまり、物事やその働き、存在はさまざまな条件が変動して、常に変化しているのである。」ことを学べば，安楽死を導入とするということは時代が変化していてその変化の一つであると受け入れて安楽死の導入に賛成である考えを持ちやすくなることや，「人は死ぬのが怖いとよく言うが、それは死後の世界がよくわからないからであろう。しかし、それは生前の世界も同じである。だから、おそらく生前と死後は同じなのであろう。」という文言の真意をたどれば，安楽死に対する恐怖や不信感を和らげることができるだろう．

しかし宗教の布教は非常に繊細な問題でもある．一昔前にあった「オウム真理教事件」も，宗教の布教によってマインドコントロールされてしまった信者を増やした．そうなってしまっては元も子もないので，般若心経が古代中世から受け継がれてきた歴史ある文章であることを主張したり，仏教の異なる宗派でも唱えて良いので仏教の本質に近いということを主張したりすると良い．

ある宗教に触れることで，なぜ諸外国では安楽死の議論が活発なのか，導入しても良いという考えを味わうことができるのではなかろうか．

ご意見等ありましたらコメントにて対応させていただきます．

追記：

英語の点数が3Q74点，4Q75点でした．なんでさ…