Transcript Chapter 5: Kant`s Moral Theory

Chapter 10: Euthanasia
Confusion 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 death
 Key Concepts: Brain Death, Coma and PVS
 Euthanasia: Active vs. Passive
◦ Quinlan
◦ Cruzan
◦ The Dutch legalization of active
euthanasia

Chapter 10: continued



Euthanasia
– means “good death”
- but what does a good death mean?
- passive euthanasia
- active euthanasia
- involuntary euthanasia
Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)
◦ Kevorkian
◦ The AMA position
◦ Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act
Pain Medication that Causes Death
◦ Double effect
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: continued

Combining 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: continued
◦ Active vs. passive euthanasia
 Consequentialist concerns
 Nonconsequentialist concerns
◦ Ordinary vs. extraordinary measures

Infant euthanasia
Chapter 10: continued

Reading: The Wrongfulness of
Euthanasia
◦ Euthanasia as intentionally taking the life
of a presumably hopeless person
Arguments against euthanasia
◦ The argument from nature
◦ The argument from self-interest
◦ The argument form practical effects
Chapter 10: continued

Reading: 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: 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: continued

Reading: 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