Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 38 (2):190-204 (2013)
Abstract |
A distinction is commonly drawn between continuous sedation until death and physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia. Only the latter is found to involve killing, whereas the former eludes such characterization. I argue that continuous sedation until death is equivalent to physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia in that both involve killing. This is established by first defining and clarifying palliative sedation therapies in general and continuous sedation until death in particular. A case study analysis and a look at current practices are provided. This is followed by a defense of arguments in favor of definitions of death centering on higher brain (neocortical) functioning rather than on whole brain or cardiopulmonary functioning. It is then shown that continuous sedation until death simulates higher brain definitions of death by eliminating consciousness. Appeals to reversibility and double effect fail to establish any distinguishing characteristics between the simulation of death that occurs in continuous sedation until death and the death that occurs as a result of physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia. Concluding remarks clarify the moral ramifications of these findings
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DOI | 10.1093/jmp/jht005 |
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References found in this work BETA
Medical Ethics and Double Effect: The Case of Terminal Sedation.Joseph Boyle - 2004 - Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 25 (1):51-60.
The Incoherence of Determining Death by Neurological Criteria: A Commentary on Controversies in the Determination of Death, A White Paper by the President's Council on Bioethics.Franklin G. Miller & Robert D. Truog - 2009 - Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 19 (2):185-193.
The Devil's Choice: Re-Thinking Law, Ethics, and Symptom Relief in Palliative Care.Roger S. Magnusson - 2006 - Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 34 (3):559-569.
The Devil's Choice: Re-Thinking Law, Ethics, and Symptom Relief in Palliative Care.Roger S. Magnusson - 2006 - Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 34 (3):559-569.
Citations of this work BETA
Palliative Sedation, Foregoing Life-Sustaining Treatment, and Aid-in-Dying: What is the Difference?Patrick Daly - 2015 - Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 36 (3):197-213.
Death Without Distress? The Taboo of Suffering in Palliative Care.Nina Streeck - 2020 - Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 23 (3):343-351.
Decisions That Hasten Death: Double Effect and the Experiences of Physicians in Australia.Steven A. Trankle - 2014 - BMC Medical Ethics 15 (1):26.
When Are You Dead Enough to Be a Donor? Can Any Feasible Protocol for the Determination of Death on Circulatory Criteria Respect the Dead Donor Rule?Govert den Hartogh - 2019 - Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 40 (4):299-319.
Continuous Deep Sedation and Homicide: An Unsolved Problem in Law and Professional Morality.Govert den Hartogh - 2016 - Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 19 (2):285-297.
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