By: Ronald F. White, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
College of Mount St. Joseph
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Euthanasia
Voluntary Euthanasia
Involuntary Euthanasia
Non-Voluntary Euthanasia
Active Euthanasia
Passive Euthanasia
Double-Effect Euthanasia
Suicide
– Suicide assistance
• Voluntary Euthanasia– Includes: rational competent adults
– Excludes: irrational, incompetent, children
• Involuntary Euthanasia
– murder
• Non-Voluntary Euthanasia
– Proxy consent
• Family, friends, physicians, legislators, governors,
presidents, judges
• Principle of Double-effect
• Motives and Morality
• When an act has “double effects”
– Good effect
– Bad effect
– Side-effects
• The use of morphine in end-of-life
situations
• Argument from Mercy
– “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”
• Argument From Liberty
– Self-regarding Act
• Argument From Social Utility
• Active Means-(Killing)
• Passive Means-(Letting Die)
– Withholding:
• Treatment (antibiotics)
• Respirators (Quinlin Case)
• Food and Hydration (Cruzan Case)
• Problems with the Distinction
– utility
• Arguments Based on Divine Command
– “Life is a Gift From God.”
– “Thou Shalt Not Kill.”
• Arguments Based on Natural Law
– “Let Nature Take It’s Course”
• Arguments based on Critique of Liberty
– Desperation vs. Competence
– Coercion
• Individual
• Social
• Arguments Based on Utility
– Slippery Slope Arguments
• Voluntary, Non-Voluntary, Involuntary
• Passive, Double-Effect, Physician Assisted Suicide, Active
• Arguments Based on Justice
– Genocide against the weak and powerless (poor, disabled)
• Court Cases
– Quinlin
– Cruzan
– Schiavo
• Euthanasia in the Netherlands
• Oregon’s “Death With Dignity Act”
• Zealous Advocacy
– Dr. Kevorkian
– Timothy Quill
– Derek Humphrey’s “Final Exit“
• Is voluntary active euthanasia ever morally justified? Should it be
legal? Is the
• Is voluntary passive euthanasia morally justified? Should it be legal?
Is it preferable to active?
• Is suicide ever morally justified? Should it be legal? Is it morally
preferable to euthanasia?
• Is suicide assistance by a physician or family member ever morally
justified? Should it be legal? Oregon law OK?
• Is double-effect euthanasia a viable alternative?
• Is there ever a “duty to die?” If so, under what conditions?
• What role (if any) should government play in regulating end-of life
decisions.
• How does the “drug war” relate to end of life decision-making?