final Flashcards
Euthanasia
Directly or indirectly bringing about the death of another person
for that person’s sake
Active euthanasia
Performing an action that directly
causes someone to die; “mercy killing”
Passive euthanasia
Allowing someone to die by not
doing something that would prolong life
Voluntary euthanasia
Euthanasia performed when competent patients voluntarily request or agree to it
Involuntary euthanasia
Bringing about someone’s death against her will or without asking for her consent although she
is competent to decide
Non-voluntary euthanasia
Euthanasia performed when patients are not competent to choose it for themselves and have
not previously disclosed their preferences
Active/Passive Euthanasia
Some contend that the distinction is crucial: active euthanasia
is killing, but passive euthanasia is letting die.
* The AMA has sanctioned the distinction.
* Some argue that there is no morally significant difference
between mercifully killing a patient and mercifully letting the
patient die.
Physician-Assisted Suicide
- A patient’s taking his or her own life with the aid of a physician
- The AMA has denounced PAS
- Many people (including some physicians) support its use
- To date, it is legal in Washington D.C. and California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Montana
Physician-Assisted Suicide: What Do Doctors Think?
In a 2014 survey of physicians (17,000 in U.S.; 4,000 in Europe):
54% of U.S. physicians say physician-assisted suicide should be allowed.
31% of U.S. physicians say it should not be allowed.
41% of European physicians say it should be allowed.
35% of U.S. and European physicians say they would not give life-sustaining treatment if they considered it futile;
19% say they would.
Public Opinion physician- assisted suicide
In a 2018 Gallup poll:
When a person has a disease that cannot be cured, do you think doctors
should be allowed by law to end the patient’s life by some painless
means if the patient and his or her family request it?
Yes, should: 72%
No, should not: 27%
Traditional view
Death is the cessation of breathing and heartbeat
Standard in law and medicine
Whole brain view:
An individual should be judged dead when all brain
functions permanently stop
Alternative notion
Higher brain standard:
Individuals are dead when the higher brain
functions responsible for consciousness permanently close down
Autonomy
Respecting people’s inherent right of self-
determination means respecting their autonomous choices
about ending their lives
Beneficence
If we are in a position to relieve the severe
suffering of another without excessive cost to ourselves, we
have an obligation to do so
Arguments against:
Moral difference between killing and letting die:
Killing is worse than letting die, so giving a patient a lethal
injection to affect an easy death is wrong, but disconnecting
his feeding tube may be permissible.
– Moral difference between intending someone’s death and
not intending but foreseeing it:
The former is wrong; the latter is permissible.
U.S. Health Care
- In 2010, almost 49 million people under the age of 65 were uninsured,
and almost 8 million of those were children. - Nearly a third of the under-65 population—almost 90 million people—
had no health insurance for at least part of 2006 or 2007. - In 2013, just before the ACA began to take effect, more than 44 million
people under age 65 were without coverage. - By 2016, there were still 27.6 million people under 65 who had no
health insurance coverage. - Reasons for lack of coverage: high cost of insurance, the absence of
coverage acquired through employment, and ineligibility for public
coverage.
Distributive justice
Justice regarding the fair distribution of
society’s advantages and disadvantages
Egalitarian theories of justice
Doctrines affirming that
important benefits and burdens of society should be
distributed equally
Libertarian theories of justice
Doctrines holding that the
benefits and burdens of society should be distributed through
the fair workings of a free market and the exercise of liberty
rights of noninterference
Utilitarian theories of justice
Doctrines asserting that a just
distribution of benefits and burdens is one that maximizes the
net good (utility) for society
Negative rights
imposes a duty not to interfere with a
person’s obtaining something
Positive rights
imposes a duty to help someone in her effort to get something A “right to health care” refers to a positive right and involves the notion that society has an obligation to provide health benefits
Libertarians
would reject “a right to health care.”
Utilitarians
could endorse a derivative right to health care.
Egalitarians
could favor a bona fide entitlement to a share of
society’s health care resources (e.g., a right to a “decent
minimum” of health care).
