1. What is Singapore's current position on passive and active euthanasia?

Singapore disallows active euthanasia and treats it as murder or assisted suicide. However, passive euthanasia is possible in Singapore through the administration of the Advance Medical Directive (AMD) whereby one is able to decide for oneself whether to accept life-prolonging medical treatment.

2. What laws or regulations have been instituted with regard to this issue?

Although an AMD form can be easily obtained from any polyclinic or private clinic, it is a hassle to process as two witness must be present at the time of signing the AMD. Also, one of the witnesses would have to be a doctor, while the other would have to be someone who would not stand to gain anything from your death.

3. Do you agree with Singapore's position? Why or why not?

We do not agree with Singapore's position of disallowing active euthanasia while passive euthanasia is allowed. Being the key to passive euthanasia, the AMD already sets a limitation to those who can administer passive euthanasia - one would have to be of sound mind at the point where he/she signs the AMD. In some cases, patients would postpone the administration of the AMD as they are not experiencing excruciatingly unbearable pain yet. However, by the time a degeneration of the human body is evident, patients may have already entered the state of an unsound mind, thereby preventing them from signing the AMD. When such a situation arises, patients have no way to change their decision to opt for euthanasia.

Even so, active euthanasia should be disallowed as others may stand to benefit from the death of one person and would then only allow others to achieve their ulterior motives. Hence, my group proposes that active euthanasia be carried out by a case-by-case basis in order to achieve only one motive - that is, to end the suffering of the patient and his family.

- Baorong, Bryan, Melissa, Ruisi 09S06J