Ethical Issues - Euthanasia
- Created by: Emilyhowie123
- Created on: 04-04-16 20:20
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- Ethical Issues Euthanaisia
- What’s the difference between killing someone and letting them die?
- Peter Singer
- No moral difference
- Watching a boy drown in a canal isn't murder but it's not morally right either
- No moral difference
- Active - Killing Passive - Watching
- James Rachels
- Doctors that 'let them die' is still killing them
- Bath Tub example
- Smith killed the child Jones 'merely' letting the child die
- No difference as they both had the same intention
- Smith killed the child Jones 'merely' letting the child die
- Peter Singer
- Should the duty of causing death be imposed on any human being?
- Assisted Dying Bill
- Helps to allow terminally ill adults who meet strict upfront safeguards
- Official Medical Bodies apposed this law change
- Two doctors would be required to agree
- If continued life holds nothing for the patient but the negative things of pain and suffering, then death is a good thing, and there is no need to use the doctrine of double effect
- If it is for the Quality of Life
- Assisted Dying Bill
- Slippery slope argument
- May result in non-voluntary or even involuntary euthanasia
- Present in the euthanasia debate since at least the 1930s
- Lawyer Eugene Volokh argued in his article The Mechanism of the Slippery Slope that judicial logic could eventually lead to a gradual break in the legal restrictions for euthanasia
- May lead to the acceptance or practice of concepts which are currently deemed unacceptable
- it is argued, in order to prevent these undesirable practices from occurring, we need to resist taking the first step
- This argument says that if we allow something relatively harmless today, we may start a trend that results in something currently unthinkable becoming accepted.
- If a person’s quality of life is so low does that justify euthanasia?
- Tony Nicklinson
- Locked-in syndrome
- Paralysed from neck down and couldn't speak
- Described his life as a 'living nightmare'
- Dependent on others
- Tony Nicklinson
- Would the impact on the doctor/patient relationship resulting from the legalisation of euthanasia make it impossible to justify?
- Doctors may feel that they are unable to give a patient euthanasia if they are close to them
- trust could be lost and the doctor–patient relationship damaged
- One of the fears is that it will undermine the doctor patient relationship and corrupt the character of doctors
- Doctors enter medicine out of a desire to save lives and relieve suffering, not to have to kill their patients
- Doctors may feel pressured to agree to a patient's wish for euthanasia even when they know they can alleviate pain or treat depression
- What’s the difference between killing someone and letting them die?
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