Journal of Medical Ethics 33 (9):519-521 (2007)
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Abstract |
It is widely accepted in clinical ethics that removing a patient from a ventilator at the patient’s request is ethically permissible. This constitutes voluntary passive euthanasia. However, voluntary active euthanasia, such as giving a patient a lethal overdose with the intention of ending that patient’s life, is ethically proscribed, as is assisted suicide, such as providing a patient with lethal pills or a lethal infusion. Proponents of voluntary active euthanasia and assisted suicide have argued that the distinction between killing and letting die is flawed and that there is no real difference between actively ending someone’s life and "merely" allowing them to die. This paper shows that, although this view is correct, there is even less of a distinction than is commonly acknowledged in the literature. It does so by suggesting a new perspective that more accurately reflects the moral features of end-of-life situations: if a patient is mentally competent and wants to die, his body itself constitutes unwarranted life support unfairly prolonging his or her mental life.
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Keywords | Euthanasia Consent Ethics |
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DOI | 10.1136/jme.2006.020073 |
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References found in this work BETA
Why Does Removing Machines Count as “Passive” Euthanasia?Patrick D. Hopkins - 1997 - Hastings Center Report 27 (3):29-37.
Citations of this work BETA
Assisted Suicide and the Killing of People? Maybe. Physician-Assisted Suicide and the Killing of Patients? No: The Rejection of Shaw's New Perspective on Euthanasia.H. V. McLachlan - 2010 - Journal of Medical Ethics 36 (5):306-309.
Life Support and Euthanasia, a Perspective on Shaw’s New Perspective.Jacob Busch & Raffaele Rodogno - 2011 - Journal of Medical Ethics 37 (2):81-83.
Moral Duties and Euthanasia: Why to Kill is Not Necessarily the Same as to Let Die.H. McLachlan - 2011 - Journal of Medical Ethics 37 (12):766-767.
Me and My Body: The Relevance of the Distinction for the Difference Between Withdrawing Life Support and Euthanasia.Andrew McGee - 2011 - Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 39 (4):671-677.
Me and My Body: The Relevance of the Distinction for the Difference Between Withdrawing Life Support and Euthanasia.Andrew McGee - 2011 - Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 39 (4):671-677.
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