PHI2604 Lecture Notes - Euthanasia, Thought Experiment
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Document Summary
Active euthanasia is to intentionally cause death by injecting lethal substance and passive euthanasia is to let the person naturally die. Rachels believes that if a patient is not in agony, it is not ethical to take any direct action to kill them. He would prefer not cure them and allow them to die naturally. In the case of a patient who is in suffering, he believes that intentionally euthanizing them would be humane, especially if they have no hope. Rachels claims that if all else is equal, there s no morally relevant difference between killing and letting to die. He illustrates his point with a thought experiment featuring a terminally ill patient with throat cancer who is in excruciating pain. Both actions would cause the patient to die. Rachels claims that active euthanasia is more merciful than passive euthanasia because the patient will die in a couple of days, in more pain.
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