PHI 2396 Study Guide - Final Guide: Fetus, Mental Event, Joel Feinberg
Document Summary
Euthanasia is a very hot topic in philosophy and finding the right moral solution is difficult. Passive euthanasia on the other hand, is when the doctor indirectly kills the patient by pulling the plug on the respirator causing the death of a terminally ill patient. These two types of euthanasia are referred to as killing" for active and letting die" for passive euthanasia. In his article, daniel callahan strongly objects to active euthanasia. Active euthanasia is when a doctor directly kills a patient using a lethal injection. Callahan believes that active euthanasia (e. g. lethal injection) is the direct action that causes the death of the patient. He argues that people confuse causality, the reality of a situation, and culpability, the moral responsibility of the outcome. Callahan argues that the act of letting die", for example the doctor has pulled the plug is more natural than killing" a patient with a lethal injection.
