Within this essay the ethical dilemma that will be discussed is euthanasia. Euthanasia not
Being not legal in England has resulted in a 77 year old man, Barrie Sheldon being faced with a 14-year prison sentence for assisting his wife to die. The two main ethical theories that will be discussed are Utilitarian ethics and Kantian ethics both contradicting each other justifying what is morally right and wrong.
Elizabeth Sheldon was an older woman who was suffering with Huntington’s diesase slowly causing dementia and physical deterioration wanted to be euthanised so she could be unable to suffer anymore, resluting in her wanting to die. An issue with Elizabeth wanting to die because of her dieseases was that she lived in Suffolk, England where
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Elizabeth was not living since she was getting sicker and according to Kant she should be allowed to terminate her life before becoming almost unfunctionable since she had the same right to come into this world. Kant’s theory would agree with what Barrie did by assisting his wife in euthansia. Kant would believe this because Barrie not once did he lie to anyone about helping his wife Elizabeth die making his actions morally acceptable. Barrie did not physically force or make Elizabeth take the medication that would eutanise her since he left her with the pills and came back after the weekends. When questioned Barrie complied with questioning and admitted to helping his wife overdose not covering anything up which is why Kant would agree with Barrie’s actions. If Barrie had lied even once about this situation, Kant would see this as morally wrong and not agree with Barrie’s actions. Since Barrie also put Elizabeth’s needs before his own not using an ends to mean results in Kantain theory believing this situation is morally correct and that Barrie should not be taken to prision for his
The ethical issue is Euthanasia, there are many groups that support or oppose this issue. Euthanasia is the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. The different viewpoints are based around whether it is humane to assist someone in dying and whether it should be illegal for someone to assist the death of someone who has a terminal illness and are suffering incurable pain. Groups that oppose the issue generally believe that it is inhumane to end someone 's life early, these groups generally believe these people should be given care and as much comfort as possible until their last days. Groups that support the issue generally believe that if someone has lost their mental state or are suffering unbearable pain that cannot be cured, that they should be allowed the option of euthanasia because it is inhumane to make someone suffer unbearable pain if they do not need to. An ethical issue brings systems of morality and principles into conflict, ethical issues are more subjective and opinionated and generally cannot be solved with facts, laws and truth. Euthanasia is an ethical issue because there are two equally unacceptable options. It is considered wrong
As patients come closer to the end of their lives, certain organs stop performing as well as they use to. People are unable to do simple tasks like putting on clothes, going to the restroom without assistance, eat on our own, and sometimes even breathe without the help of a machine. Needing to depend on someone for everything suddenly brings feelings of helplessness much like an infant feels. It is easy to see why some patients with terminal illnesses would seek any type of relief from this hardship, even if that relief is suicide. Euthanasia or assisted suicide is where a physician would give a patient an aid in dying. “Assisted suicide is a controversial medical and ethical issue based on the question of whether, in certain situations,
Euthanasia is defined as an 'act of killing someone painlessly to relieve his or her suffering'[1]. It's etymology is derived from the Greek 'eu thanatos' which means a good death. It is a contentious issue that provokes strong arguments for and against changing UK legislation to permit it. The UK currently prohibits active euthanasia. Active euthanasia is an act where the intention is to end or deliberately shorten someone's life.
Doctors do err on cancer patients' survival times, so how can they say when the time is ripe for assisted suicide. A study in the July 1 issue of Cancer, the journal of the American Cancer Society, finds that doctors are often wrong in predicting how long terminally ill cancer patients will live. After studying the accuracy of doctors' predictions regarding 233 patients with end-of-life cancer, the researchers found most doctors had a tendency to overestimate survival time. But among patients who lived longer than six months, 40% had been expected to die sooner. The results are relevant to decisions to refer patients to hospice care -- and also to decisions for assisted suicide, which in Oregon can only be
Throughout Kant’s writings depicted in Chapter 11, he touches upon theories relating to the debate of ethics and morality. Since morality is a “normative enterprise,” it often stands out prominently among mentions of non-moral actions due to it’s impartiality, universality, and its reason-based logic. Oftentimes, actions performed due to strong emotions are confused as necessary moral undertakings, although these actions are truthfully psychological malfunctions due to a prior conditioning process. Although Kant’s ethical logic was debated heavily, other moral theories have also been of interest to philosophers, including Consequentialist theories, Dentological Theories, and the quiet opposition of Kant: utilitarianism.
In this essay, I will be discussing an article about a woman who starved her two horses. I will address the issue about whether or not the woman’s action was ethical. I will use the two ethical theories of utilitarianism and Kantian ethics to support my argument. I will also suggest a different course of action the woman could have taken to be justified, through both ethical theories.
In this case, the basis of argument should not only be on the situation or the consequences but rather all. An act in itself would be either right or wrong; it could not be both (Edge & Groves, 2006). The worry this lady has is that the disease is going to progress which she is so right about but the approach she wants to use to stop it is what is wrong as far as I am concerned. Some people may say that she should be left to commit suicide because she is going to die anyway but that is not what I think is the right thing to do for this practitioner. Kant saw people as having an absolute value based on their ability to make rational choices (Edge & Groves, 2006). Before the practitioner acts to advise or help the lady, golden rule should come to his/her mind. The golden rule states that, “when actions have an impact upon another, for these actions to be morally defensible, it must be the case that the actor would choose to be the recipient of an identical action by someone else under identical circumstances (Edge & Groves, 2006). In this line of reasoning, the concern of an ethical society would be toward the care and support of its most disadvantaged citizenry, as they are the least able to speak for themselves. This is a decidedly duty oriented position in that it establishes the duty of moral equality, which could not be bargained away regardless of social interest or the welfare of the society as a whole (Edge & Groves,
Nowell-Smith looks at moral right based and utilitarian theories. The right of not to be killed can be argued against by the right to want to end living. He provides an example of euthanasia societies where a lot of older people who still enjoy live just have a desire to have an opportunity to end their lives the way they want to. The fear of being helpless and slowly dying in the institutions drives these people to join these societies and ask for a law to be changed. Nowell-Smith also makes an argument against Law Reform Commission of Canada’s report Euthanasia, Suicide and Cessation of Treatment that suggests that euthanasia laws should not be changed. One of the arguments is that it may go out of control and could lead to serious abuses and mistakes. Nowell-Smith argues that it can be controlled stating the example of Dutch system where voluntary active euthanasia practices only in hospitals and where everything is considered before any action is done so there is no mistake.
Throughout the history of the entire world, things have constantly been changing. Societies have been created and flourished, humans evolved, new technologies have been created, and new theories discovered. However, with so many advancements in the human world, there are some things that cannot be stopped from happening or change. Organisms can get an illness at any moment in their lives from many different causes. Some illnesses cannot be cured, can cause unbearable symptoms or pain, and can cause you to lose your life, such as cancer. If a person is terminally ill, their illness will be the cause of their death no matter how much treatment is received.
be fed orally because of blistering in the mouth and throat. Any movement of the
Contrary to Kant’s ethical theory is Jon Stuart Mill’s theory of utilitarianism, also known as consequentialism. Morrison (2011) states this theory was established from the idea that ethical choices should not solely be based on duty, but on their consequences. Weighing the consequences of actions, as well as how those consequences
Patrick murders Corwin Earlie who ill-treated the child, and Patrick knows that by doing so, he breaks the law. This begs the question, whether his act remains in tandem with Kant’s thought that a moral act remains without condition, right for any person in similar circumstances. In this situation, the answer would be yes, since the man killed the child, and allowing him to live is an injustice to the child and the family. However, there is a question of the moral value, whether killing the man is right. In fact, it leads to an atrocious experience of two individuals killed in the same case, which is not ethically right. For Patrick, he thinks that the same way that the man killed the child, he also deserve
Euthanasia is the practice of ending an individual's life in order to relieve them from an incurable disease or unbearable suffering. The term euthanasia is derived from the Greek word for "good death" and originally referred to as “intentional killing” ( Patelarou, Vardavas, Fioraki, Alegakis, Dafermou, & Ntzilepi, 2009). Euthanasia is a controversial topic which has raised a great deal of debate globally. Although euthanasia has received great exposure in the professional media, there are some sticky points that lack clarity and need to be addressed. Euthanasia is a divisive topic, and different interpretations of its meaning, depend on whether the person supports it or not. While a few societies have accepted euthanasia, there are
Is it right to intentionally bring about the death of a person? The vast majority of people would instinctively answer this question “no,” unless it related to an act of war or perhaps self-defense. What if taking the life of the person would benefit that person by ending their suffering? Would it be morally acceptable to end their suffering? Questions like these are debated by those considering the morality of euthanasia, which is a very controversial topics in America. Euthanasia can be defined as “bringing about the death of another person to somehow benefit that person” (Pojman). The term implies that the death is intentional. Because there are several different types of euthanasia, it is difficult to make a blanket statement
Kantian ethics emphasizes on two conditions for an action to be morally good. The first, that an action only has moral worth if it is done for the sake of duty. The second is that an action is considered right if its maxim can be willed as a universal law. Kantian ethics then is working on the basis of duty and universality. In failing to recognize the multiple aspects of morality, Kantian ethics shows inadequacy as a moral theory. (Hinman, 2008)