Rachels And Perrett
Question 1
To first do no harm is the Hippocratic Oath often taken by healthcare professionals around the globe; however, the subject of active versus passive euthanasia to allow chronically ill patients the right to die with dignity has sparked moral controversy among world-renowned philosophers for decades. James Rachels, Winston Nesbitt, and Roy W. Perrett are just three philosophers who wrote and spoke openly about the topic of euthanasia and biomedical ethics. Rachels and Perrett were adamant in their belief that the moral distinction between killing (active euthanasia) and allowing to die (passive euthanasia) was nonexistent. Rachels felt strongly that one was no worse than the other and that statements by the American Medical Association to support one method over the other should be eliminated. Perrett agreed and added that death by either commission or omission opposes the preservation of human life. In the example of the bathtub case, Smith and Jones are both two greedy men who stand to gain a large sum of money once their nephew passes away. In Scenario A, Smith decides to drown the child and make it seem like an accident. In Scenario B, Jones sees the child drowning after hitting his …show more content…
According to his philosophy, if given the opportunity, Jones is morally justified to kill the members of the mob in lieu of Smith since they are promoting a murder under duress. In doing so, not only would Jones save his own life, but Smith and his family would be safe as well. This case is quite controversial. I do not agree that if Smith had killed Jones to save his family it would have been self defense. Smith foolishly agreed to place himself and his family in direct harm in order to feed a gambling addiction; this has nothing to do with killing an innocent man to save himself or his
To first do no harm is the Hippocratic Oath often taken by healthcare professionals around the globe; however, the subject of active versus passive euthanasia to allow chronically ill patients the right to die with dignity has sparked moral controversy among world-renowned philosophers for decades. James Rachels, Winston Nesbitt, and Roy W. Perrett are just three philosophers who wrote and spoke openly about the topic of euthanasia and biomedical ethics. Rachels and Perrett were adamant in their belief that the moral distinction between killing (active euthanasia) and allowing to die (passive euthanasia) was nonexistent. Rachels felt strongly that one was no worse than the other and that statements by the American Medical Association to support one method over the other should be eliminated. Perrett agreed and added that death by either commission or omission opposes the preservation of human life. In the example of the bathtub case, Smith and Jones are both two greedy men who stand to gain a large sum of money once their nephew passes away. In Scenario A, Smith decides to drown the child and make it seem like an accident. In Scenario B, Jones sees the child drowning after hitting his …show more content…
According to his philosophy, if given the opportunity, Jones is morally justified to kill the members of the mob in lieu of Smith since they are promoting a murder under duress. In doing so, not only would Jones save his own life, but Smith and his family would be safe as well. This case is quite controversial. I do not agree that if Smith had killed Jones to save his family it would have been self defense. Smith foolishly agreed to place himself and his family in direct harm in order to feed a gambling addiction; this has nothing to do with killing an innocent man to save himself or his