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Thought Experiment 71: Life Support

10/31/2016

2 Comments

 
Picture
One last (heart)beating of this topic to death...
This week's thought experiment is so nearly a repeat of a previous one I've done, I almost skipped it. But that sin of omission would have been worse than committing the sin of repetition. Wouldn't it?

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     Dr. Grey was depressed. One of his terminally ill patients was being kept on a life-support machine. Before she lost consciousness for the last time, she had repeatedly asked that the machine be switched off. But the hospital ethics committee had ruled that it would be wrong to take any action intended to shorten the life of a patient.
     Grey disagreed with the committee and was disturbed that the wishes of the patient had been ignored. He also thought that holding off death with the machine was merely prolonging the agony of her friends and relations.
     Grey stood looking mournfully at his patient. But then something odd happened. A hospital cleaner caught the power cable that led to the life-support machine and pulled it out from the socket. The machine emitted some warning bleeps. The cleaner, disturbed by the sound, looked at the nearby doctor for guidance.
     "Don't worry," said Grey without hesitation. "Just carry on. It's all right."
     And indeed for Grey it was now all right. For no one had taken any deliberate action to shorten the life of the patient. All he was doing by leaving the accidentally unplugged machine turned off was not taking any action to prolong it. He now had the result he desired without breaking the instructions of the ethics committee.

Source: Causing Death and Saving Lives by Jonathan Glover, 1977.

Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 211.
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What do you think? Regardless of your position about the right to die, is there always a meaningful distinction between killing someone and letting them die?
2 Comments
Mimi Stiegel
11/1/2016 01:22:15 am

Yes, there is always a meaning (meaningful?) distinction between killing someone and letting them die. Much experience and research on this subject.

Most decisions are made on what the individual has stated LEGALLY while she/he is consciously able to do so.

Define "meaningful distinction" please. That's the crux.

Reply
@EdGibney link
11/1/2016 08:47:57 am

Welcome to the blog, Mimi — thanks for the comment! I didn't mention it in this post, but my usual blogging method for these thought experiments is to introduce them on Monday with simple, leading questions hoping to get readers to offer their own suggestions. Then, on Friday, I'll write my own full response, incorporating reader suggestions where necessary. In this case, the "meaningful distinction" I wanted readers to think about was whether Dr. Grey had really only "let the patient die" when the tiniest correction of an accident would have made a difference to the outcome. Technically, Dr. Grey seems correct here, but would the hospital ethics committee see his (in)actions as meaningfully okay? What if we lived in the near future and the power outlet was controlled by AI that could recognise a simple glance to turn itself on? Just how much or how little effort counts towards killing vs. letting die? (Again, I'm just asking leading questions here, not trying to stuff my own thoughts into this yet to give readers room to think on their own...)

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