PHILOS 2D03 Lecture 53: Lecture 53 – Ethical Euthanasia
12 Mar 2018
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Document Summary
Active euthanasia is more humane than passive euthanasia. Withholding treatment from a patient might mean more pain and suffering for that patient. The doctrine leads to decisions made on irrelevant grounds. In the united states (in and around 1975), about 1 in 600 babies were born with down"s. Distinction between killing and letting die has no moral importance. Rachels: consider the following two cases: case one: smith will gain a large inheritance if his 6 year old cousin dies. Jones, like smith, sneaks into the bathroom while his cousin is in the bathroom and intends to drown the child. However, the cousin slips, hits his head, and falls face down in the water. The cousin drowns due to the fall, while jones watches and does nothing. Rachels: there is no important difference between killing and letting die that makes one morally acceptable and the other not. Arguments in defense of passive euthanasia are invalid.
