Killing and Letting Die
This collection contains twenty-one thought-provoking essays on the controversies surrounding the moral and legal distinctions between euthanasia and letting die.Since public awareness of this issue has increased this second edition includes nine entirely new essays which bring the treatment of the subject up-to-date. The urgency of this issue can be gauged in recent developments such as the legalization of physician-assisted suicide in the Netherlands, how-tomanuals topping the bestseller...
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This collection contains twenty-one thought-provoking essays on the controversies surrounding the moral and legal distinctions between euthanasia and "letting die." Since public awareness of this issue has increased this second edition includes nine entirely new essays which bring the treatment of the subject up-to-date. The urgency of this issue can be gauged in recent developments such as the legalization of physician-assisted suicide in the Netherlands, "how-to" manuals topping the bestseller charts in the United States, and the many headlines devoted to Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who has assisted dozens of patients to die. The essays address the range of questions involved in this issue pertaining especially to the fields of medical ethics, public policymaking, and social philosophy. The discussions consider the decisions facing medical and public policymakers, how those decisions will affect the elderly and terminally ill, and the medical and legal ramifications for patients in a permanently vegetative state, as well as issues of parent/infant rights. The book is divided into two sections. The first, "Euthanasia and the Termination of Life-Prolonging Treatment" includes an examination of the 1976 Karen Quinlan Supreme Court decision and selections from the 1990 Supreme Court decision in the case of Nancy Cruzan. Featured are articles by law professor George Fletcher and philosophers Michael Tooley, James Rachels, and Bonnie Steinbock, with new articles by Rachels, and Thomas Sullivan. The second section, "Philosophical Considerations," probes more deeply into the theoretical issues raised by the killing/letting die controversy, illustrating exceptionally well the dispute betweentwo rival theories of ethics, consequentialism and deontology. It also includes a corpus of the standard thought on the debate by Jonathan Bennet, Daniel Dinello, Jeffrie Murphy, John Harris, Philipa Foot, Richard Trammell, and N. Ann Davis, and adds articles new to this edition by Bennett, Foot, Warren Quinn, Jeff McMahan, and Judith Lichtenberg.
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction to the Second Edition1Introduction24Pt. IEuthanasia and the Termination of Life-Prolonging Treatment1In the Matter of Karen Quinlan512Majority Opinion in Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health (selections)793Prolonging Life: Some Legal considerations884An Irrelevant Consideration: Killing Versus Letting Die1035Active and Passive Euthanasia1126The Intentional Termination of Life1207Active and Passive Euthanasia: An Impertinent Distinction?1318More Impertinent Distinctions and a Defense of Active Euthanasia1399Coming to Terms: a Response to Rachels155Pt. IIPhilosophical Problems10Whatever the Consequences16711On Killing and Letting Die19212Is Killing the Innocent Absolutely Immoral?19713The Moral Equivalence of Action and Omission21014Negation and Abstention: Two Theories of Allowing23015The Survival Lottery25716The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of the Double Effect26617Killing and Letting Die28018Saving Life and Taking Life29019The Priority of Avoiding Harm29820Actions, Intentions, and Consequences: The Doctrine of Doing and Allowing35521Killing, Letting Die, and Withdrawing Aid383Suggested Readings421Notes on Contributors429
