End Of Life Flashcards
Is Euthenasia legal in the UK?
No. All forms except passive euthenasia is illegal.
What is passive euthenasia?
Intentionally letting a patient die via the withdrawal of artifical life I.e., ventilator and feeding tube.
What is active euthenasia?
When the person dies through an act someone else did e.g., purposely giving them an overdose of painkillers to relieve their suffering.
What is voluntary euthenasia?
When a person’s life is ended at their request to relieve them from suffering e.g, do not resuscitate patients (DNR)
What is non-voluntary euthenasia?
When a person makes a choice on the patients’ behalf when they’re unable to make one themselves.
What is the ‘Ian Gordon case?’
An example of ACTIVE euthenasia when Ian smothered his wife with a pillow to relieve pain after she asked him to. He got punished for manslaughter.
What types of euthenasia are legal in the Netherlands?
VOLUNTARY and a form of NON-VOLUNTARY called the GRONGINEN PROTOCOL. E.g., a baby under 1 was euthenised via the parents consent because of unbearable suffering.
What moral issues apply to ALL FORMS of euthenasia?
Virtue and Medical Integrity
Christian response to Virtue:
“Thou shalt not kill” - Exodus 20:13. Christians would choose not to interfere with any form of euthenasia in fear it would be an act of killing and using free will to mess with God’s plan and decision.
What is the moral issue of Medical Integrity?
“First do no harm” is the principle of non harm in the medical field, but isn’t committing euthenasia harmful? Is it ever morally justifiable for a Dr to put a patient at risk?
Jewish response to virtue:
Jewish Law forbids active euthenasia, and regards it as murder, but they may allow passive euthenasia, saying only doctors are allowed to remove whatever is “preventing the soul from departing.”
Buddhist response to virtue:
Buddhists believe kindness and non-attachment is important to reach enlightenment and nibbana.
They believe suffering is natural and should be embraced and not feared.
So a Buddhist would provide comfort and care out of goodness and charity for the patient, and make sure they’re at peace before they die.
Muslim response to virtue:
“No person can ever die except by Allah’s leave” - Qu’ran 3:145.
This compells Muslims to oppose all forms of euthenasia, as committing such could be seen as abusing free will to mess with Allah’s plan, so similar to Christians, they would choose not to interfere.
What is a nihilist response to Virtue in all forms of euthenasia?
A nihilist believes there is no inherent meaning or value in the universe, including morality, so a nihilist would find no moral obligation to oppose or support euthenasia. Instead, they would just do whatever they preferred, whether it means committing it because the suffering is too much pain, or opposing it because they’d rather keep living. There are no pressures, boundaries or conflict.
Whats a Utilitarian response to Virtue in euthenasia?
Utilitarians believe in the greatest good for the greatest amount of people. So here it varies. If the patient has too many loved ones who don’t want them to die, the pleasure of the loved ones would feel from the patient staying alive outweighs the pain the patient would feel from the notion of staying alive. Vise versa.
