Mercy Killing vs. Patient "Care"
By: Noah Richardson
"Moral Reasoning"
Is reason or emotion the most reliable method in obtaining knowledge in ethics and human sciences?
Euthanasia and Doctor Assisted Suicide
- Euthanasia - "Administration of medications or other interventions intended to cause death at a patient's request
-
Doctor Assisted Suicide- Provision of information, means, or direct assistance by which a patient may take his or her own life
- Information- providing toxicological information/describing techniques in which someone can commit suicide
- Providing the means- written prescriptions for lethal amounts of deadly medication
- Direct assistance- inserting IV line and instructing one on starting a lethal infusion
Autonomy
- Individual freedom
- Ultimate Decision
- Hemlock Society
Sanctity of Life
- The most fundamental freedom that humans possess
- Declaration of Independence
- "Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness" (Language)
- Assisting in self-destruction
Psychological Vulnerability
- America is an achievement-driven society
- Burden on the younger generation
- The societal "offer of death" (Self Deliverance)
- "Why not?" (Reason)
Right to Die
- Right to end one's own life and ask for assistance
- "Dignified death"
- Right vs. Permission
Hippocratic Oath
- "Moral Guide"
- "Enemies of Death"
- Rewritten over time to suit 21st century medical situations
- Can morals simply be rewritten? (Ethics)
YES
- "Where there is life, there is hope!" (Emotion)
-
Variation between how terminal diseases progress
- A cure may be found!
- Against God's will (Religion), eternal damnation
NO
- Unlikely improvement in the future, why endure longer? (Reason)
- Relief of suffering vs. the meticulous palliation of the patient's symptoms
- "Waste of medical resources"
- Physician-Patient Trust Compromise
Should the patient be kept alive?
Power
- Temptation of Power
- Taking another's life
- Taboo of doctor assisted suicide
- "Medical Killing"
- James Burtchaell
Physician-Patient Trust
- Chantal Sebire
Putting one's life into the physician's hands? (Human Sciences)
Chantal Sebire
52 years old
Former school teacher
2000- lost the sense of smell and taste
2002- Found out she suffered from esthesioneuroblastoma
2007- lost her sight
AOKs
WOKs
- Language
- Emotion
- Reason
- Faith
- Ethics
- Human Sciences
- Religion
Reason vs emotion?
- Jack Kevorkian -Suicide machines
- Insurance "Just in case"
- Unreliability of emotions
Merciful Killing vs. Inhumane murder
By Noah Richardson
