PHI 1102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Assisted Suicide
15 Mar 2016
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Last time we said there were two considerations about the physician"s death: plaintiffs in carter v. canada: i) autonomous choice as right to die not available to the disabled as it is to the able-bodied. Criminal ban assisted suicide discriminates against the disabled. It must not be overlooked that what is at stake for someone in gloria taylor"s situation is not merely autonomy, nor is it simply autonomy with respect to physical integrity. It is the autonomy to relieve her suffering. (upheld by supreme court) Consideration 2b: loss of autonomy/ dignity as source of suffering. Taylor/carter: doing things for oneself, not being physically dependent on others. Does autonomy/dignity as defined by able-bodied norms count as a deep seated. Taylor/ carter: physical autonomy is a deep-seated value that should be respected. What worries me most about the proposals for legalized assisted suicide is their veneer of beneficence- medical determination that, for given individual, suicide is reasonable or right.
