The Doctrine Of Double Effect

Capital punishment is a difficult subject for a lot of people because many question whether or not it is ethical to kill a convicted criminal. In order to critically analyze whether or not it is ethical, I will look at the issue using a utilitarianism approach because in order to get a good grasp of this topic we need to look at how the decision will impact us in the future. The utilitarianism approach will help us to examine this issue and see what some of the consequences are with this topic of capital punishment. For years, capital punishment has been used against criminals and continues to be used today, but lately this type of punishment has come into question because of the ethical question.

Although, pain can be excoriating and unfathomable thus, leaves the patient with no choice but to live with it and contemplate whether to terminate his or her life by performing euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide. Apparently, the patient has right to die if he or she cannot endure physical or mental pain. Imagine, a patient is just barely lingering on the battle between life and death, one should able to make a decision to move into eternity with dignity, without suffering or pain, with their loved one present. So I could consider this technique as killing/letting die because the patient requests physician and physician has a duty to respect patient’s request by letting him/her to die. Killing or letting die does not matter as long as the patient requests to the physician.

Narcotic analgesics, especially morphine are underused for pain control with in the medical field. This underuse is because medical professionals, including doctors, fear patient addiction, side effects and possible lose of their licenses. These fears deny adequate healing and a better quality of life to those who would benefit from a more effective use of these drugs, as done in hospice care.

Some physicians are using a lethal combination of drugs and or euthanasia on patients with or without their consensus. Euthanasia/active euthanasia (sometimes called “mercy killing”) occurs when a person, usually a physician or nurse, performs an act (e.g., administering a lethal injection) to end a patient’s life. Additional descriptors for euthanasia include “voluntary” (i.e., the patient requests euthanasia) (tcmd/euthanasia/2009).

The immorality of prescribing lethal drugs may be heavily felt by the prescribing physician after administration. Many physicians are affected by the

In almost every case of a terminal disease, pain is intolerable and seeing someone in such agony is heartbreaking. For example, Brittany Maynard, a 29 year old brain cancer patient who had to move to Oregon so she can avail of the Death with Dignity act. “Maynard knew that her form of brain cancer would be excruciating. She would endure swelling of the brain that would very likely cause seizures, painful headaches and the gradual loss of bodily function. Doctors know that for about 5 percent of the population, no amount of morphine can block the agonizing pain the terminally ill endure” (EDITORIAL: Dying with dignity). Palliative care can often be provided for the dying patients and alleviating pain to provide comfort for the dying has always been the priority. “Palliative care focuses on relieving the symptoms, particularly the pain, of incurable illness.” (Palliative Care) But, in relieving pain through the prescribed medications there are also side effects that are caused by the prescribed pain suppressors and two examples will be lethargy and it compromises breathing. In most cases the effectivity of the pain medication may no longer alleviate the pain. If a patient will be in such agony for the remaining days or weeks the quality of life is no longer present. The agony of pain prevents a patient from performing even just the bodily functions.

Even with this appreciation of our human reality, Jewish Law does not reduce the mandate that we preserve life, even under the most challenging conditions. While rabbinic authorities, ancient and modern, debate whether under limited circumstances medical treatments may be withheld from a suffering person (thus, no longer delaying an inevitable death), it is abundantly clear that one may not proactively hasten death. At the same time, Jewish Law would endorse the aggressive palliation of pain to a degree not currently practiced in the medical profession. Rabbinic authorities place such treatment under the rubric of loving one's neighbor as one's self

Number one was one that had a lot of emotional impact that was taking place throughout the duration of the song. It expressed a tone color that was orange and very intense. There was a lot of conflict that was taking place between Ruth and Fredrick during this time. The melody showed pitches that made up the different parts of the song. For example, both Ruth and Fredrick take turns on who takes the melody of the song depending on who is dominant at certain points of the song. Fredrick is more dominant and the beginning and then Ruth takes the attention later on. Harmony took place as Ruth and Fredrick are singing different parts at the same time and the tones are sounding simultaneously. With this, at the intense parts there are dissonances

At first glance, Utilitarian moral theories may seem to support the idea of torturing this innocent man. If we look at this situation we see that there is a dilemma of hurting one man, or having to bear the death of many. We may say that since the basis of Utilitarianism is

* The patient must be in a terminal condition: if I give the patient a fatal dose of pain-killing drugs and they would have recovered from their disease or injury if I had not given them the drugs, it is no use saying that my intention was to relieve their pain. And that applies even if there was no other way of controlling their pain. (Scanlon 2008).

This essay will aim to focus on the arguments that author, James Rachel’s presents in his article, Active and Passive Euthanasia,” In his article Rachel’s argues that both passive and active euthanasia are morally permissible and the doctors that is supported by the American Medical Association(AMA) is believed to be unsound. In this paper I will offer a thorough analysis of Rachel’s essay then so offer a critique in opposition of his arguments. In conclusion I will refute these oppositions claims by defending Rachel’s argument, and showing why I believe his claims that both active and passive euthanasia are morally permissible, to be effective.

In the case that the man is sentenced to life in prison rather than death, one must examine the pain and pleasures associated with this option to determine its’ aggregate utility. Below are two tables very similar to the ones presented earlier, this time examining the pains and pleasures resulting from keeping the murderer alive.

To identify issues facing by Lenneke living and running ballet shoes business in Scotland, A few issues arises with her when she travelled to attend trade exhibition in The Hague, the Netherlands. Firstly, she was threatened and intimidated by the Dutch traders, those called her as a Traitor. Secondly, they tried to impose ban on her for next exhibition. Thirdly, the Dutch police ignored her complaints. Fourthly, the Scottish Government intends to impose excise tax which could affect her business. Before addressing these issues and concerns of Lenneke, it is fair to understand the background of the EU, such as why the EU created and what was the main purpose for that? How far EU law supreme and has direct effect on member states. What does

In 2003, the American Nurses’ Association published a position statement regarding “Pain Management and Control of Distressing Symptoms in Dying Patients.” The organization states:

Morphine is commonly used in clinical and surgical medicine for a multitude of reasons. This drug is highly addictive and because of its pleasurable effects, morphine is widely used for recreation and has a very high abuse rate. Morphine can be absorbed into the bloodstream through a number of routes of administration. One such way is in the form of capsules, taken orally. This method of administration takes about 30 minutes to experience the peak of effects (Glare & Walsh, 1991). Morphine can also be administered intravenously. This is one of the quickest ways to experience the effects of this drug, as it is administered directly into the bloodstream, and is the reason why this is one the most common routes of administration of this drug.