My latest column for the
Aitkin Independent Age is in reaction to some recent articles therein espousing an instrument that can be used to protect against one's medically-sanctioned murder or to facilitate it, so I was compelled to enjoin against the latter.
There have been
some recent articles about advanced health care directives. By all
means, it’s a good idea to prepare one. But I beg you, do not let it be
used for killing.
End of life ethics
is a very difficult area. I’m not a doctor, so I cannot tell exactly in
what circumstances treatment is futile. I don’t know enough to judge
individual cases. But I do know the absolute moral principle of never
killing a person except in defense. We are not morally obliged to do
absolutely everything possible to extend a person’s life for as long as
possible. But we are morally obliged never to take action to bring about
their death, even if they wish us to.
Read the rest here.
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