Chapter 10: EuthanasiaChapter 10: EuthanasiaConfusion can come over questions like: - Whether someone is dead or ought to be

considered dead - Whether it is permissible to do things

which might hasten deathKey Concepts: Brain Death, Coma and PVSEuthanasia: Active vs. Passive

◦Quinlan ◦Cruzan ◦The Dutch legalization of active

euthanasia

Chapter 10: continued Chapter 10: continued Euthanasia – means “good death” - but what does a good death mean? - passive euthanasia - active euthanasia - involuntary euthanasiaPhysician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)

◦Kevorkian ◦The AMA position ◦Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act

Pain Medication that Causes Death ◦Double effect

Chapter 10: continued Chapter 10: continued Pain Medication that Causes Death

◦The principle of Double Effect ◦Other advances in treating pain

Ordinary vs. Extraordinary Measures Voluntary and Nonvoluntary

Euthanasia ◦Living will◦Durable power of attorney◦Do not resuscitate (DNR)

Chapter 10: continuedChapter 10: continuedCombining the Types of Euthanasia

◦Three types of voluntary euthanasia ◦Three types of nonvoluntary euthanasia

Morality and the Law - everything immoral is not illegal

Making Moral Judgments about Euthanasia

- Consequentialist vs nonconsequentialist considerations

Chapter 10: continuedChapter 10: continued◦Active vs. passive euthanasia Consequentialist concerns Nonconsequentialist concerns

◦Ordinary vs. extraordinary measures

Infant euthanasia

Chapter 10: continuedChapter 10: continuedReading: The Wrongfulness of

Euthanasia ◦Euthanasia as intentionally taking the life

of a presumably hopeless personArguments against euthanasia ◦The argument from nature

◦The argument from self-interest

◦The argument form practical effects

Chapter 10: continuedChapter 10: continuedReading: Active and Passive

Euthanasia ◦The official position of the AMA in 1973

◦The argument of the painfulness of passive euthanasia

◦The argument of decisions about life and death made on irrelevant grounds The case of Down’s syndrome babies The cases of Smith and Jones

Chapter 10: continuedChapter 10: continued◦Responses to the claim that, morally

speaking, killing is no different than letting die In passive euthanasia the doctor does

nothing In active euthanasia the doctor directly

causes the patient’s death The above is simply of academic

interest

Chapter 10: continuedChapter 10: continuedReading: Buddhist Views of Suicide

and Euthanasia◦Recent Japanese discussion concerning

bioethics and suicide.◦Early Buddhist views of death, dying, and

euthanasia◦Religious suicide and death with dignity in

Japan◦Samurai, seppuku, and euthanasia◦Safeguards that are defined