Medicine:Letting die

From HandWiki
Short description: Withholding care

In non-consequentialist ethical thought, there is a moral distinction between killing and letting die. Whereas killing involves intervention, letting die involves withholding care.[1]

Also in medical ethics there is a moral distinction between euthanasia and letting die. Legally, patients often have a right to reject life-sustaining care, in areas that do not permit euthanasia.[2]

See also

  • Passive euthanasia
  • Vacco v. Quill
  • Right to die
  • Do not resuscitate
  • Trolley problem

References

  1. Thomson, Judith (1976) Killing, letting die and the trolley problem The Monist, 59: 204-17
  2. aafp.org

Further reading

  • Bennett Jonathan (1993), 'Negation and abstention: two theories of allowing' in B. Steinbock and A. Norcross (eds.), Killing and Letting Die, pp. 230-56, New York: Fordham University Press.