Ethics and Philosophy 2101
Medical Ethics
Worksheet #2
Name:
DNR / Right to Die Legislation
Consider the legal cases of:
Dr. Jack Kevorkian
Terri Schiavo
Robert Lattimer
Sue Rodriguez
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/11/14/vancouver-court-hears-right-to-dieeuthanasia_n_1093168.html
http://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/holland-background/
1.
What are your initial feelings regarding such a controversial issue? Why do you
think you hold such opinions?
2.
Governments enforce strict laws regarding assisted suicide, citing the physicians’
adherence to the oath of primum non nocere. Is such legislation in the interest of
the Greater Good? Should we be afraid that if governments lift restrictions and
laws that people may die that would not have necessarily been terminal?
3.
What role does religion play in such legislations?
4. Who owns a life?
- Who should decide whose life it is?
- Why should they be the ones to choose?