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PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE.
Term Paper ID:26608
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Essay Subject:
Applies ethical ideas of relativism, utilitarianism & Kant's Categorical Imperative to morality of physician-assisted suicide.... More...
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6 Pages / 1350 Words
6 sources, 9 Citations,
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Paper Abstract:
Applies ethical ideas of relativism, utilitarianism & Kant's Categorical Imperative to morality of physician-assisted suicide.
Paper Introduction:
Physician-assisted suicide is a troubling issue which involves at least two moral actors -- the patient who makes a decision as to whether to live or die, and the physician who decides whether to assist or not. The real moral issue is faced by the physician, for it is he or she who will make the decision which changes a suicide to a physician-assisted suicide. Different moral systems can be applied to this issue.
The concept of right to die pertains to individual control over the process of dying. It remains unclear whether assisted suicide, which may include termination of life support, should be acceptable and legal or to what extent its practice can be regulated to protect the vulnerable and guard against abuse.
Self-determination is a central issue in the debate regarding end-of-life decisions, which includes the right to die. Phys
Text of the Paper:
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Works CitedBentham, Jeremy. Pain and pleasure are thedeterminants of right and wrong as well as being in a chain of cause andeffects. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Physician-assisted suicide is a troubling issue which involves atleast two moral actors -- the patient who makes a decision as to whether tolive or die, and the physician who decides whether to assist or not. The good will,he says, is the only good without qualification. As medical science has become more adept atprolonging life, but not necessarily at making that life valuable,euthanasia has become an option to be considered by those who suffer, thosewho love them, and those who are charged with their care. This debate involves questions about theright of a person to make decisions and to act accordingly based on self-values and belief systems. The same would extend to the moral sphere, of course, so thatBentham is not really achieving the objective moral code that he desires.Indeed, it is not clear that such a code is even possible, given thedifferences seen in what people view as pleasure and pain. It remains unclear whether assisted suicide, which mayinclude termination of life support, should be acceptable and legal or towhat extent its practice can be regulated to protect the vulnerable andguard against abuse. His idea of measuringthe degree of pleasure and pain is also questionable, for the definition ofwhat is pleasure and what is pain can differ greatly from person to personor even for the same person at different times. The concept of right to die pertains to individual control over theprocess of dying. Introduction to Ethical Theory. Physicians also debatethese issues. The Philosophy of Kant. Bentham is in fact alsointerested in developing a set of objective criteria of morality and formaking moral decisions regarding human actions. The good will is describein terms very similar to those used for the question of duty: A good will is good not because of what it effects or accomplishes, nor because of its fitness to attain some proposed end; it is good only through its willing, i.e., it is good in itself (Kant 113). This leads to aform of relativism itself. Kant also uses the example of our desire topreserve our own life and notes of people in general: "They preserve theirlives, to be sure, in accordance with duty, but not from duty" (Kant 114).It is not a moral action without this intent. If we accept physician-assistedsuicide in extreme cases, we could indeed be saying we want this to becomean "ought." Each of the moral systems discussed her could be applied tophysician-assisted suicide on either side of the question with somejustification. Thus the culture says one thing about any suicide and yet more andmore accepts this as a moral option, moral because it is a decision theindividual has made himself. Ethical Cultural Relativism is a difficult theory to justify.Traditionally, the culture has opposed suicide as a wrong and has fought toprevent people from committing suicide and to opt for life whenever giventhe choice. Most existing assisted suicide laws rely on the principleof active and informed consent, though, again, it is unclear whatconstitutes consent and what is to be done for those who no longer are ableto speak for themselves. Assisted suicidedemands that ending a life is transferred from the subject to someone else,usually a doctor or nurse, though it is not clear what conditions allow forthis transfer. A. "Social Work and End-of-life Decisions: Self-determination and the Common Good." Health & Social Work, 21(2)(1996), 115-123.Williams, Bernard. It is usually required that the patient beterminally ill; however, this is a broad definition that does not stipulatehow far from death a patient should be, for suicide to be assisted ("TheRight to Choose to Die" 16). This is the principle of utility, as Bentham states it: By the principle of utility is meant that principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question; or, what is the same thing in other words, to promote or to oppose that happiness (Rogerson 31). Self-determination is a central issue in the debate regarding end-of-life decisions, which includes the right to die. New York: Random House, 1977."The Right to Choose to Die." The Economist, 343(8 22)(1997), 15-17.Rogerson, K.F. The difficulty comes in applying thisadmittedly loose justification to the physician, for this transfers theasserted moral right to die to a second party as facilitator. He says thata good will is manifested in acting for the sake of duty. An individual may puthimself or herself through a great deal of pain for a pleasurable resultthat might be of particular importance to them if not to someone else, anda person may put themselves through pain for some altruistic reason thatagain is sufficient for them but that might not seem so to the outsideobserver. However, the individual does not necessarily choosethose actions that will automatically lead to this greatest pleasure, butit is possible to categorize actions so that right actions are those thattend to increase the total of pleasure for the individual while wrongactions are those that tend to reduce this total. New York: Hafner, 1948.Kant,Immanuel. The Categorical Imperative derives from the following statement: "Ishould never act except in such a way that I can also will that my maximshould become a universal law" (Kant 117). For Kant, to act for thesake of duty means to act out of reverence for the moral law. One of the more interesting and complex moral theories is that ofImmanuel Kant. "Ethics." In Philosophy: A Guide Through the Subject, A.C. For Kant, a maxim is asubjective principle of volition, a principle on which the agent acts todetermine his or her decisions. Canphysician-assisted suicide be justified even if it causes injury by thefact that it is seen as the greater good by the patient? Bernard Williams notes that Kant relies on some ideas whichare not shared by other modern theorists, "in particular that a commitmentto the basic principle of morality (the so-called 'Categorical Imperative')is presupposed by the very activity of a rational agent" (Williams 555). Moral issues do not disappear even when practical difficulties areworked out to the satisfaction of all involved. At the sametime, Bentham finds one way of determining the egregiousness of an offenseto be whether or not anyone sustained any injury (Bentham 64). Bentham's approach is strong in its psychological implications andless so in its moral implications. Is our moral attitude against suicide a statement ofuniversal law or a cultural expression? Bentham's idea that people choose to door pursue what is pleasurable is logical and clear and is based on ananalysis of experience. However, unless theindividual is acting because of a moral duty, the action cannot beconsidered a moral action. Jeremy Bentham's utilitarianism is based on the perception that thehuman being is governed by the opposing principles of pleasure and pain:"It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as todetermine what we shall do" (Rogerson 31). Grayling (ed.), 545-582. Bentham offers the principle ofutility as the foundation for his philosophy of utilitarianism and for theethical considerations that flow from it. For Bentham, when he says that theindividual seeks his or her happiness, he means that they seek the greatestpleasure possible. Chicago: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1991.Wesley, C. The concept that our actions are ruled by a desireto maximize pleasure and minimize pain is almost self-evident, but carryingit to the extreme that Bentham does is questionable. The Principles of Morals and Legislation. Of course, it is necessary to examine more closely what is meant byBentham when he refers to happiness. Kant distinguishes between acts that are performed out of duty andacts which are performed for the sake of duty, holding that those actsperformed in accordance with duty but not from duty have no moral worth.In making this distinction, Kant is setting forth a moral principle inkeeping with his view that morality does not derive from nature but fromthe mind, and it is what is intended that is important rather than whatoccurs without intent, even if the action is the same. Practical concerns exist in the right to die issue. However, more recently there has been considerable agitationfrom segments of the population concerning the idea of a right to die.While this has not yet been codified in law to any great degree, it isargued so vehemently that it is clear the traditional view no longer hasthe hold it once did. There are thosewho state indeed that active euthanasia should be legalized as a way ofending life in the event of a terminal illness or debilitating andincurable injury. The ethical principleand the principle of utility become the same -- we ought to do what isright and we ought not to do what is wrong. Kant's statement is another way of sayingthat the action will have moral worth because it will have been performedfor the sake of duty because it is based on the maxim of obeying universallaw as such. A survey of physicians in Washington showed that out of 938respondents, only a slight majority favored physician-assisted suicide andeuthanasia in some situations; most stated that they would be unwilling tobe a participant (Wesley 117). When a request is made forhelp in suicide, rather than merely for the cessation of treatment, thehelper is being asked to actively kill the patient rather than just omitcure. Thereal moral issue is faced by the physician, for it is he or she who willmake the decision which changes a suicide to a physician-assisted suicide.Different moral systems can be applied to this issue.
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