PHI 2396 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: Assisted Suicide, Involuntary Euthanasia
10 Jan 2018
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Document Summary
Euthanasia is directly or indirectly bringing about the death of another person for that person"s sake. There are considered to be 2 forms: Active euthanasia is said to involve preforming an action that directly causes someone to die - what most people think of as mercy killing. Passive euthanasia - allowing someone to die by not doing something that would prolong life (ie. removing from ventilator, not performing the surgery, failing to give the life saving drug) Some people believe this distinction isn"t enough and that there is a di erence between mercifully killing a patient and mercifully letting them die. They believe the rightness of the action shouldn"t depend on whether the killing/ dying was active or passive but if it was voluntary. Voluntary euthanasia refers to situations where competent patients request or agree to euthanasia. Nonvoluntary euthanasia is preformed on patients who are incompetent to choose for themselves and have not previously disclosed preferences.
