PHIL 164 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Morphine, Euthanasia, Brain Death
24 Aug 2016
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Euthanasia is directly or indirectly bringing about the death of another person for that person"s sake. Active vs. passive euthanasia: active euthanasia: directly causing a person to die for their own sake, type of killing, passive euthanasia: allowing a person to die by not doing what would prolong their life, type of letting die. Voluntariness: voluntary: explicit consent, nonvoluntary: no explicit consent. Physician provides help (instructions or means) for the patient to commit suicide. Case: kevorkian: dr. kevorkian physician-assisted 100+ suicides, administered the lethal doses of drugs for thomas youk. Youk was terminally ill, clearly consented, was lucid, competence, and wanted to do it. Competent patients sometimes autonomously choose to die with physician help. Thus, euthanasia is sometimes acceptable (namely when autonomous patients choose it) In favor: beneficence: a terminal, suffering patient has only pain left. Against: killing is worse: which is worse, you kill your parents for inheritance, you find your parents dying but do nothing, for inheritance.
