Voluntary euthanasia: a utilitarian perspective.

@article{Singer2003VoluntaryEA,
  title={Voluntary euthanasia: a utilitarian perspective.},
  author={P. Singer},
  journal={Bioethics},
  year={2003},
  volume={17 5-6},
  pages={
          526-41
        }
}
  • P. Singer
  • Published 2003
  • Psychology, Medicine
  • Bioethics
Belgium legalised voluntary euthanasia in 2002, thus ending the long isolation of the Netherlands as the only country in which doctors could openly give lethal injections to patients who have requested help in dying. Meanwhile in Oregon, in the United States, doctors may prescribe drugs for terminally ill patients, who can use them to end their life--if they are able to swallow and digest them. But despite President Bush's oft-repeated statements that his philosophy is to 'trust individuals to… Expand
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32 Citations

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The Extension of Belgium’s Euthanasia Law to Include Competent Minors
  • K. Raus
  • Sociology, Medicine
  • Journal of Bioethical Inquiry
  • 2016
TLDR
Analysing the official documents and identifying the most commonly voiced arguments gives valuable insight into how Belgium came to amend its euthanasia law and why it did so in 2014. Expand
Voluntary euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and the goals of medicine.
  • J. Varelius
  • Sociology, Medicine
  • The Journal of medicine and philosophy
  • 2006
TLDR
The main ways of defining the proper goals of medicine found in the recent bioethics literature are examined and it is argued that they cannot provide a clear answer to the question of whether or not voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are morally acceptable. Expand
Can Suicide be Ethical? A Utilitarian Perspective on the Appropriateness of Choosing to Die
TLDR
A utilitarian ethical perspective is used to critique David Lester's assertion that each person should determine whether suicide is appropriate for him or her in relative isolation from the opinions of others. Expand
Ethics in physician-assisted dying and euthanasia
The definitions of physician-assisted dying, passive euthanasia, and active euthanasia are reviewed. The ethical implications of physician-assisted dying are also examined. Proponents argue that… Expand
Christian Personalism versus Utilitarianism: An Analysis of Their Approaches to Love and Suffering*
  • P. Colosi
  • Medicine, Philosophy
  • The Linacre quarterly
  • 2020
TLDR
The article concludes by exposing the inherently self-defeating structure of utilitarian ethics and offers the hope-filled, if challenging, approach of Christian personalism. Expand
Illness, Suffering and Voluntary Euthanasia
TLDR
This article argues that when the authors consider the moral acceptability of voluntary euthanasia, there is no good reason to concentrate only on persons who are ill or injured and suffering. Expand
Religion and medical ethics.
  • R. Green
  • Psychology, Medicine
  • Handbook of clinical neurology
  • 2013
TLDR
This work traces the impact of differences for some of the world's great religious traditions with respect to four issues: religious conscientious objection to medical treatments; end-of life decision-making, including euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and the withholding or withdrawing of life-sustaining treatments. Expand
The Principle-Based Method of Practical Ethics
TLDR
It is argued that the principles under consideration in this paper should be interpreted as presumptive principles and it is concluded that although they cannot be expected to bear the weight of definitely resolving ethical problems, these principles can nevertheless play a considerable role in ethical research. Expand
Euthanasia: A fight for respect and autonomy
This study discusses an ethical dilemma on “Euthanasia”. The purpose of this study is to analyze the ethical controversies associated with euthanasia. This study will present an in-depth analysis of… Expand
Continuous sedation until death as physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia: a conceptual analysis.
TLDR
It is shown that continuous sedation until death simulates higher brain definitions of death by eliminating consciousness, and Appeals to reversibility and double effect fail to establish any distinguishing characteristics between the simulation of death that occurs in continuous sedations until death and the death that occurring as a result of physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia. Expand
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References

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Euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and other medical practices involving the end of life in the Netherlands, 1990-1995.
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End-of-life decision making in the Netherlands has changed only slightly, in an anticipated direction, and euthanasia seems to have increased in incidence since 1990, and ending of life without the patient's explicit request to have decreased slightly. Expand
End‐of‐life decisions in Australian medical practice
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The authors' claim that "in 30% of all Australian deaths, a medical end-of-life decision was made with the explicit intention of ending the patient's life" is unsubstantiated by their research and defamatory of the medical profession. Expand
End‐of‐life decisions in Australian medical practice
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Australia had a higher rate of intentional ending of life without the patient's request than the Netherlands, and described the characteristics of such decisions and compared these data with medical end-of-life decisions in the Netherlands. Expand