Michael Manning

About the author: Michael Manning is an associate pastor of St. Gregory the Great parish in Trenton, New Jersey. Manning practiced medicine as an internist and gastroenterologist for thirteen years before entering the seminary. He is the author of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Killing or Caring" from which the following viewpoint is excerpted.

Professor of ethics Dan Maguire believes there is a moral difference between passive and active euthanasia, terms referred to as omission and commission. He believes passive and active euthanasia differ in their effects on family members as well as on doctors. For example, family members would feel more guilty if they administered fatal medication to a loved one than if they withheld antibiotics for pneumonia in a terminal case. Likewise, physicians would generally find it...