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! Medical Ethics ! - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Act = active euthanasia is an act
      - Omission = passive euthanasia is an omission
      - Choosing to do something vs choosing no to do something
      - However…
        
        NB Wilcockson - argues that failure to act doesn’t absolve you from moral responsibility.
        
        E.g. a pacifist reduces to shoot someone, their failure to act is an active moral decision
        
        Catholic Church - there is no distinction between act & omission (or active euthanasia & passive euthanasia) if the intention is to relive suffering & the know outcome is death. Both are immoral as breaks PP of preservation of life.
    - - There’s a distinction between foreseeing an outcome (death) & choosing to act specifically to bring about that outcome
      - Giving potentially lethal doses of pain - killing drugs to relieve suffering is moral, & in the UK legal, provided the person giving the drugs doesn’t primarily intend to kill the patient
      - Wilcockson - critical of this as it could easily be abused & lead to a slippery slope
      - Catholic Church - use this principle. Euthanasia is wrong, a sin as it breaks PP of preservation o life but is accepted in case of double effect
    - - Important distinction used by both quality & sanctity of life args
      - Catholic Church - allow people to die as God would have them die
      - Ordinary means = Duty to accept healthcare
      - Extraordinary means = but we don’t have to to extremes & keep ourselves going earn this is simply prolonging the dying process/involved grave suffering
      - Treatment is considered extraordinary if it has been evidence that it won’t work to keep the person alive/involved tripping them of their dignity
      - NML - a person who refuses food/water committing suicide which is wrong. BUT refusing life-prolonging treatments is not - Weak sanctity of life arg
      - Withdrawal of treated is simply letting nature take it course
      - BMA - approves of this as the patient is mentally able to make the decision. If a doctor feels treatment should be pursued buys stoop cause to against the patients wishes, then it could be considered assisted dying
      - Assisted dying - illegal in Britain too. The dying person controls their own death with the assistance of a 3rd party
  - - - Locked in syndrome
      - Denied right to have food/water withdrawn (passive euthanasia)
      - Medical institutionalised argued he still had quality of life which he denied
      - He died at 58, 6 days after losing his court case by starving himself
    - - Had life limiting genetic condition, would of died naturally in a couple years
      - His parents challenged the decision of the medical professionals who argued it was Charlie’s best interest to withdraw medical ventilation & allow him to die
      - The high court ruled in the medical professionals favour & his life support was removed & he died
  - - - Relieves symptoms of an illness (Pain) without treating the cause
- - - - present teaching about abortion was only finalised in the nineteenth century. Before this the church followed St Augustine's teaching that as absolute it was a sexual sin not murder.
      - Aquinas (old catholic view)- quickening: the time when the baby starts to move in the womb. - generally no longer accepted
- - - - Potential human - already a person
      - Right to life/sanctity of life
      - Unborn baby has no belief or ability to speak for itself
    - - Conservative belief of women role - therefore foetus has greater rights
      - Child depends on her
      - Debate between mother rights to bodily autonomy vs the baby’s right to life
      - Bodily autonomy, her right to choose
    - - 10-11 weeks can feel pain - no abortions past then
        
        In reality not that long to find out & get it all sorted
      - Mother suffers mentally as well as physically, foetus doesn’t have ability to suffer mentally
    - - Life begins at conception / birth - when is it a person
      - When does the foetus become a person with rights
    - - Should it be aborted if the foetus has viability outside the womb
      - babies have been born at 22 weeks & survived
      - But cannot survive independently - need incubation
    - - Eugenics - why is it viewed as a terrible thing to have a disabled baby even in medical field
      - At the moment there is no time limit on having an abortion - doesn’t have to be a severe disability
      - Quality of life
    - - Aquinas - quickening - when it moves it baby has a soul & therefore sanctity of life
      - Catholic - a conception
      - Islam - 120 days after conception
      - Church of England - God breathing the breath of life into Adam - life at first breath
      - Reincarnation - soul can find a new body
  - - - The foetus is a part of the women’s body until it is capable of independent life. The woman has the right to decide bcs at that stage life is potential not actual
      - Giving birth must be seen within the overall situation in which a woman finds herself in terms of personal development and social, family or financial circumstances
  - - - you wake up & find yourself plugged into a famous unconscious violinist, you have been kidnapped to help heal him. and to unplug yourself would kill him, but if you wait & stay in the bed for 9 months you can be unplugged & he will live.
    - - If the pregnant woman has voluntarily engaged in sex, she is responsible for the foetus's need to use her body; she has no such responsibility towards the violinist.
      - The pregnant woman has a special obligation to sustain her offspring; the violinist confers no such obligation.
      - There is a moral difference between killing and allowing to die.
      - implies no harm to your health- pregnancy does cause long lasting health detriments to mother even if she decided to give up for adoption
      - oversimplified
  - - - removes the problem of whether the foetus is a person with rights. If it is wrong to kill a child or adult on the ground that they are being deprived of a future, the same argument applies to a foetus.
- - - - Perhaps to harsh for modern, liberal society - exceedingly old theory, not relevant now
      - Not relevant for secular people, what should they follow it
      - Too simplistic in overlooks movies such as love
  - - - Slippery slope - you allow 1 concession in extreme circumstances and soon it will lead to wide spread euthanasia
      - What is Agape - is it loving to end a life painlessly or is it for someone to send their last days with family
        
        Can killing be an expression of Agape
    - - Perhaps alternative is hospice care
  - - - How do you know what a moral persons would do when faced with euthanasia
      - No way to know if you did the correct thing - exacerbated by finality of the action
  - - - How do you know what your duty is - e.g. is it a doctors duty to space a life or end their suffering
      - inhuman, cold theory
  - - - Haedonic calculus is hard to use & slow
      - Risk of majority rules - leading to people being euthanised against their will
      - Which version do you use - which is the right one?
    - - BUT those in vegetive state cant access higher pleasures & therefore euthanasia for them is moral
- - - - link to PofE - soul making - God may of made people disabled to facilitate soul making
    - - Removing stem cells from cord blood does not destroy 'potential life' i.e. embryos.
      - Scientific research is using the gift of intelligence from God, and could ease suffering of God's creation.
      - 'Love thy neighbour' - the treatments are used to improve quality of life.
      - Bible was written before complicated treatments were developed. Need a more modern source from the Church.
      - Jesus healed people - this is just a modern version
      - Liberal Christians say that the bible needs to be interpreted.
  - - - <> absolute - prevents confusion, easy to follow
      - <> protects the foetus that hasn't got ability to stand up for its self
      - <> absolute - prevents slippery slope. e.g. designer babies & complete removal of disabilities
      - <> protects minorities & most vunerable
      - <> doctrine of double effect - allows for flexibility in extreme circumstances
    - - <> outdated - not applicable to modern liberal society
      - <> out dated - issues such as PGD & IVF weren't possible or existent when it was created
      - <> universal - doesn't allow for circumstances & situation such as rape or incest
      - <> places sanctity of life over quality of life
      - <> not applicable to secular induvial
  - - - <> allows for discussion & debate
      - <> scriptural authority - Jesus in NT, God incarnate - makes Christians want to follow it
      - <> non-absolute - depends on situation
      - <> can be adapted to be used secularly
      - <> allows for individual circumstances
    - - <> can't form absolute morality from ir --> can't have laws
      - <> could lead to slippery slope
      - <> mistaking Agape for what you want to to be
        
        BUT weaknesses of person not weakness of the theory
  - - - <> flexible & dependant on situation
      - <>democratic, accounts totally different definitions of pleasure
      - <> treats everyone in a situation with equal respect
      - <> more applicable to modern secular society
    - - <> idea that the majority outweighs the minority not good for abortion --> very personal issue
      - <> not all can express opinion e.g. embryo
      - <> can't predict the future of what will happen
      - <> is justice happiness
      - <> time consuming - hedonic calculus is too taxing to live by
      - <> elitist theory --> idea of higher pleasures
  - - - <> agent centred & supports long term future of communities & society
      - <> applicable to theists - linked to christianity
      - <> allows for different cultures as role models differ
    - - <> how do you know what a 'good person' would do when faced with these situations
      - <>can use virtues to argue either side mother or foetus
      - <> virtue is practiced over a lifetime but many issues require quick/immediate responses - abortions
      - <> no way to confirm what you have done is virtuous after the fact
      - <> how do you know you are working out of wisdom not fear
      - <> how do you know what a good person looks like
- - - - But should we, or do we want to, preserve that life?
- - - - 1) Consciences & capacity to feel pain
      - 2) Reasoning
      - 3) Self-motivated activity
      - 4) Capacity to communicate
      - 5) Self-awareness
    - - what about disabled people or those with degenerative diseases, are hey not people or are they no longer people if they can’t fulfil the conditions
      - Catholics - all foetus have right to life cause of potential of being a person
- - - - Murder - each embryo is a potential life & shouldn’t be destroyed - sanctity of life
      - Alternatives of placental stem cells & adult bone marrow
    - - If not cure why murder - no point
      - Maybe shows not supposed to happen
      - Not true - major scientific developments
    - - Forcing women to donate
    - - Life is god given - cant play god by killing & curing diseases
      - Does embryo have right to life, do we have right t deny it
    - - When does the embryo become a person - is it alright if done before a certain stage in development
      - Does it have human rights
    - - Lot of input for very little output
      - Resources could be used better elsewhere
      - Bias towards more higher income people - manufactures inequality
    - - Renewable resource - can just make more - division
- - - - sanctity of life - playing God
      - perhaps cord blood better alternative - doesn't harm baby
      - but foetal stem cells are better, can be made into a wider range of cells
    - - eugenics - curing 'bad eyesight', creates inequality
    - - babies as commodities - would people have children for the blood - not care for the child/abandon it
    - - lots of money wasted where could be used elsewhere
      - lots of medical stress on mother - then if cord blood fails as well - emotional baggage for child
- - - - Our uniqueness makes us human
      - Affects attitude towards disabled
    - - sanctity of life
      - very dismissive of potential life
    - - Extremes of designer babies
      - Issues of reduced gene pool - much like the side affects of dog breeds for aesthetics
      - Could start will good intention of eradicating diseases but fall into getting rid of other characteristics, like bad eyesight, too tall, etc
    - - The 'undesirables' are destroyed – right to life
      - having a 'fashionable' child, for the sake of them being 'fashionable' or designed
    - - Could specific embryos been implanted as genetic matches for sick siblings – then forced to donate stem cells, blood, etc - autonomy
    - - phasing out of disability
      - manufactures inequality
- - - - Unnatural, playing god
    - - Many are destroyed when parents are finished
      - Commodity, right to life
    - - When does an embryo become a person - those destroyed are people to
    - - Adultery
      - Who is the parent - the carrier or the genetic parent
    - - God has chosen people to not have children - maybe they were meant to adopt
      - If god is omniscient you cant play him he new it was going to happen
      - He allowed scientists make this possible
      - We have god within us, so partly God making this decision
    - - Elitism - not accessible for less rich people
      - manufactures inequality
- - - - “In the image of God” - Destroying something of God
      - “Do not kill” - Euthanasia can e seen as murder. If th person is alive & you intend to kill them - is that not the same as killing
        
        Link to personhood & Mary Anne Warren - ‘quality of being alive’
      - “You yourself are Gods temple” - Must not destroy - playing God
      - Book of Job - deals with immense suffering, by the end he argues with God. However accepts that God has a greater plan he cant comprehend.
    - - “The lord gave and the lord has taken away”
      - “My times are in thy hand…”
      - “Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shoulders thou die before thy time?”
      - “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heave: A time to be born, and die; a time to plat, and a time to pluck up that which is planted”
      - “No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over day of his death” - In reality humans play god all the time & are hypocritical with it i.e. resuscitation
    - - No passages that openly support euthanasia. BUT, ma see euthanasia as a compassionate response, & they use passages act love t argue for euthanasia”
      - “Love your neighbour as you love yourself” - Jesus the out would also point to the lack of prohibition. The bible tends to be very specific about moral issues bu doesn’t specifically condemn euthanasia. If euthanasia wasn’t such a big issue wouldn’t Jesus have said something about it when he was alive