euthanasia Flashcards
(10 cards)
what are biblical quotes that are against euthansia
so God created mankind in his own image in the image of God he created them
you shall not murder
the lord has taken and the lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the lord
do you not know that your bodies are temples of the holy spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God
what is the A01 for the quality of life
this takes the view that whether the life is valuable or not depends on whether its worth living, it needs to have certain opportunities such as happiness, autonomy.
peter singer argues for replacing the traditional sanctity of life ethics with five quality of life commandments
we should recognise that the worth of human life varies
we should take responsibility for the consequences of our decisions to save or end a life
we should respect a persons desire to live or die
we should only bring children into the world if theyre wanted
we shouldnt discriminate on the basis of species
ao1 for applying natural law to euthanasia
natural law is fixated and rule based, to preserve innocent life is one of the precepts so euthanasia is wrong, euthanasia is seen as an apparent good.
a01 for applying situation ethics to euthanasia
Fletcher supports euthanasia. fletcher rejects legalism and believes we should make decisions out of love, relativism, positivism, personalism pragmatism, supports quality of live rather than sanctity of life
what are the case studies for euthanasia
daniel james, rugby player for england under 16s , broke his spine and paralysed from waist below,it was difficult for him to adjust. having made several failed attempts to kill himself, his parents accompanied him to an assisted suicide clinic in switzerland
hannah jones, in 2008 13 year old hannah jones hit the headlines, as a result of leukemia and heart problems, hannah spent most of her life in and out of the hospital, her cancer was in reamission but to survive she required a heart transplant, constant drug treatment and a replacement transplant within 10 years. she decided she would rather die
autonomy and euthanasia
this can be traced to JS MILLS non harm principle yht states the government can restrict our powers if we choose to harm others but not ourself,singers preference utilitarianism also states humans should be able to pursue their own desires and interests where its possible
supporters of euthanasia appeals to autonomy as they believe humans should have free choice over their life, it links to quality of life and voluntary euthanasia. jonathan glover states someones mental state needs to be checked before they require it as if their mental isnt correct they will come to the decision of euthanasia as they arent thinking right
autonomy is more complicated in NVE, if the patient has given instructions about what their wishes would be if they were in such a case then arguably their autonomy is being respected.examples include a DNR where a patient indicated if their heart stops beating then they dont want CPR. other patients may make direct advances where they state the circumstances under which they would want treatment to stop
what is an act of euthanasia
this is active euthanasia when a needle is given to you to kill you as it is an act
what is an omission of euthanasia
this is passive euthanasia, this involves omissions such as removing medical treatment or in the case of tony bland a feeding tube.
challenging thinking on acts and omissions; james rachel
case 1-smith is a legal guardian for his nephew and will inherit a fortune if his young nephew dies before his 18th birthday. one evening he drowns the boy in the bath and arranges it to look like an accident(act)
jones is a legal guardian of his nephew and inherits a fortune if he dies, jones hates his nephew but would never harm him. as he enters the bathroom he sees his nephew fall and hit his head on the bath and drown.
rachel states both acts are equally as bad as each other and when we consider euthanaisa, a passive act that opeartes by omission may be even more cruel as death takes longer.
peter singer also challenges the distinction between acts and omissions. the removal of tony blands food tube in some sense is an act as we are actively trying to kill them.
whats the A03 FOR THERE BEING NO DISTINCTION
Situation ethics challenges it, there are cases where agape requires the compassionate response of helping someone to end their life, whether this is by acts or omissions isnt significant
a teleological approach which has a purpose to reduce pain doesnt care about any method used as long as it reduces pain
Use examples of singer and james
