Double Effect

The Doctrine of Double Effect (DDE) is often invoked to explain the permissibility of an individual’s action that has two outcomes: one where the end result can be foresee and is good, the other that can also be foresee and is bad (Goldworth, Amnon, 2008). In other words, this doctrine is used to justify cases such as where doctors give drugs to patients to relieve severe pain (good result) knowing that doing so may shorten their life span (bad result). Under DDE, this action is justifiable because the physician intention is not aiming directly at killing the patients. The bad result of the patient’s death is a side effect of the good result of reducing the patient’s distressing pain. However, this doctrine is also a subject of controversy,
Scanlon’s critique of DDE is based on the analysis of permissibility, and the idea that an action may be permissible or not depends on the intentions of the agent, which is relevant to moral assessments of the way in which the agent deliberated the action. Scanlon states that the intention with which one does a certain action makes a difference to its meaning, involving the significance of this action for the agent and others, and its meaning makes a difference to its permissibility (Lippert-Rasmussen, 2010). This point of view is applied in the evaluation of two pair of cases: tactical bomber and terror bomber; and drug shortage and organ shortage (Lippert-Rasmussen, 2010). Both pair of cases with potential moral relevant factors, except for the agents intentions that could inadvertently affect the comparison evaluation of either one as well as the interpretation of the
The reason being lays in the differences between the agents intention toward their patients. The intention/foresight of an action is directly relevant to moral and ethical assessment of an action. According to Goldworth (2008), the physician must satisfies the four criteria for DDE in order for an action to be considered morally permissible. Therefore, the action of letting someone died purposely, such is the case in Organ Shortage, so his or her organs can be utilize to save others does not meet the DDE criteria, since the bad effect and not the good effect is intended first. However, if we find ourselves in the physician’s predicament, it may be difficult to say what course of action should have been taken instead, without knowing the physician’s intention, and whether or not the physician has the ability to determine his or her own