PHIL 2408 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, Advance Healthcare Directive
25 May 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Lecture 15: respecting patient"s right to refuse treatment, passive euthanasia pulling the plug, physician assisted suicide doctor provides patient with lethal drug to self-administer, active euthanasia doctor administers lethal drug. Arguments in favor of #1: patient autonomy/self-determination, alleviation of suffering/mercy. Brock and the royal commision both argue that surrogate decision maker can refuse treatment, but cannot ask for active euthanasia. Brock, however, suggests that active euthanasia is the same as refusing treatment. If active euthanasia is the same as refusing treatment, why can the decision makers decide. Brock does not know how to answer #4. Brock only talks about competent patients, not going to discuss nonvoluntary euthanasia. Royal commission on end of life decision making. Ch 3: the ethics of end of life care. The existing legal framework in canada is inadequate. Canadian values are diverse so we must look for overlapping consensus. Surrogate decision maker should only make decisions in your best interest, not what you wanted.
