The moral distinction between killing and letting die in medical cases
Bioethics 22 (5):278–285 (2008)
| Abstract | In some medical cases there is a moral distinction between killing and letting die, but in others there is not. In this paper I present an original and principled account of the moral distinction between killing and letting die. The account provides both an explanation of the moral distinction and an explanation for why the distinction does not always hold. If these explanations are correct, the moral distinction between killing and letting die must be taken seriously in medical contexts. Defeasibly, when an agent kills she takes responsibility, but when an agent lets die she does not take responsibility. Therein lies the moral distinction between killing and letting die. The distinction, however, is defeated when an agent is already responsible for the surrounding situation. In such cases, killing does not involve taking any further responsibility and letting die does not avoid taking any responsibility. Medical examples are frequently complicated because patients' autonomous choices impact upon medical practitioners' surrounding responsibility | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,875 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesThomas S. Huddle (2013). Moral Fiction or Moral Fact? The Distinction Between Doing and Allowing in Medical Ethics. Bioethics 27 (5):257-262.
F. M. Kamm (2001). Ronald Dworkin on Abortion and Assisted Suicide. Journal of Ethics 5 (3):221-240.
R. Gillon (1988). Euthanasia, Withholding Life-Prolonging Treatment, and Moral Differences Between Killing and Letting Die. Journal of Medical Ethics 14 (3):115-117.
Earl Winkler (1991). Is The Killing/Letting-Die Distinction Normatively Neutral? Dialogue 30 (03):309-.
James Rachels (2001). Killing and Letting Die. In Lawrence C. Becker Mary Becker & Charlotte Becker (eds.), Encyclopedia of Ethics, 2nd edition. Routledge.
Gary M. Atkinson (1983). Ambiguities in 'Killing' and 'Letting Die'. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 8 (2):159-168.
Carla Kary (1980). A Moral Distinction Between Killing and Letting Die. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 5 (4):326-332.
Matthew Hanser (1995). Why Are Killing and Letting Die Wrong? Philosophy and Public Affairs 24 (3):175–201.
Charles Douglas (2009). End-of-Life Decisions and Moral Psychology: Killing, Letting Die, Intention and Foresight. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 6 (3).
Helen Frowe (forthcoming). Killing John to Save Mary: A Defence of the Distinction Between Killing and Letting Die. In J. Campbell, M. O’Rourke & H. Silverstein (eds.), Action, Ethics and Responsibility. MIT Press.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads69 ( #12,966 of 556,840 )Recent downloads (6 months)3 ( #27,428 of 556,840 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
