PHIL 1550 Chapter 6: ch 6 - moral issues at the end of life
10 Feb 2017
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When meredith is 55 she is diagnosed with early-stage alzheimer"s. She knows exactly what the disease does to one"s mind, since she watched her mother die from it. She thus signs an advance directive instructing doctors that they are not to use any extraordinary means to keep her alive if she gets seriously ill after becoming demented. Meredith actually gets to that demented state and contracts pneumonia, it turns out that she is perfectly content and, when asked, expresses a preference to stay alive. Precedent autonomy: respecting one"s earlier, competent preferences when one is currently incompetent. If ym is identical to om ym"s preferences ought to be binding. Problem = ym would have no way of knowing what om"s life & circumstances would be like for om. Substituted judgment: when decisions are based on what the patient would have wanted. If ym is not identical to om ym is at least like her closest relative.
