ANSWER
Introduction to the Week Three Debate Topic: An Ethical Assessment
The ethical discussion surrounding the legalization of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) has been selected as the subject for the third week’s assignment. The autonomy of the individual, the sanctity of life, and societal ramifications are among the highly personal and communal ethical issues at stake in this discussion. This essay uses Kantian ethics to assess both sides’ moral claims and compiles a list of five scholarly sources that are pertinent to the subject.
Ethical Considerations in the Discussion
Individual Ethical Considerations
Autonomy: Proponents of PAS frequently contend that it gives patients authority over their bodies and choices regarding their care near the end of their lives.
Compassion: Supporters emphasize the importance of easing the agony of terminally sick individuals who endure constant pain.
Dignity: By enabling people to escape the mental and physical devastation brought on by terminal disease, PAS is viewed as a way to maintain dignity.
Social Ethical Considerations
Sanctity of Life: Critics contend that life has intrinsic worth and shouldn’t be purposefully terminated.
A slippery slope Concern: Some people worry that allowing PAS could result in abuse, especially among vulnerable groups like the elderly and the crippled.
Impact on Healthcare: As doctors transition from healers to death facilitators, critics fear that this may erode patient-provider trust.
Assessment Applying Kantian Ethics
The Kantian Viewpoint
According to Kantian ethics, which is informed by the categorical imperative, deeds are only ethically justified if they respect the inherent value of every person and can be universalized without contradiction.
Regarding Physician-Assisted Death:
Universalization: Supporters may contend that permitting PAS complies with the idea of autonomy because everyone’s right to select their own path is consistent with this value.
Respect for Persons: Treating people as ends in and of themselves is emphasized by Kantian ethics. Advocates contend that by respecting the person’s logical choice to spare themselves pain, PAS upholds their dignity.
Opposing Physician-Assisted Death:
Universalization: Critics may contend that making PAS available to all would violate the life-preservation ethic and endanger society.
Respect for Life: According to Kant, life is valuable in and of itself. Even when a patient requests it, facilitating death may go against the universal value of respecting life.
1. Annotated Bibliography with APA Citations
Battin, M. P., and Quill, T. E. (2018). The argument for patient choice and palliative care in physician-assisted suicide. Oxford University Press.
Annotation: This book highlights patient autonomy and the function of palliative care while examining the ethical debates surrounding physician-assisted suicide. The authors support an integrated strategy in which the decision of PAS is supplemented with palliative care. Presenting statistical data from jurisdictions where PAS is allowed, they address the questions surrounding the slippery slope and possible misuse of PAS.
Key Takeaways: The authors contend that PAS upholds patient autonomy while implementing strict controls to prevent exploitation (p. 127).
Disagreement: The book exaggerates how safe the current protections are, even though they might not completely shield vulnerable groups.
“Palliative care and patient choice need not be mutually exclusive” (p. 89) is one quote.
“Respecting autonomy does not negate the duty to ensure safety in practice” (p. 130).
Assessment: This book is really helpful in comprehending how PAS and palliative care can be integrated in a balanced way.
2. Reference to APA
F. M. Kamm (2020). Morality for life and death. Oxford University Press.
Annotation: Kamm offers a thorough examination of moral systems, including PAS, in life-or-death situations. She investigates whether PAS complies with the categorical imperative using Kantian ethics. Kamm talks on respect for human dignity and moral autonomy in connection to end-of-life decisions.
Important Takeaways: The author contends that although autonomy is essential, Kantian ethics may be against PAS because of the inherent worth of life (p. 78).
“Life’s worth cannot solely depend on subjective suffering” (p. 82) is one quotation.
Evaluation: This source helped me better grasp the philosophical conflicts in PAS discussions between autonomy and life preservation.
3. Reference to APA
E. J. Emmanuel (2017). Four misconceptions regarding suicide by a doctor. American Medical Association Journal, 318(6), 593–594. Jama, 2017.9560 https://doi.org/10.1001/jama
Annotation: Emmanuel dispels myths around PAS, such as its purportedly high demand and security. He offers statistics demonstrating that, even in places where it is legal, PAS is seldom ever utilized. Emmanuel brings up moral questions regarding how society views life and death, especially the devaluation of palliative care.
Key Takeaways: The author emphasizes that increasing access to palliative care is more important than legalizing PAS (p. 593).
Disagreement: The article underrepresents the viewpoint of patients who are experiencing insufficient pain care, despite its valuable content.
Examples include the statement, “PAS may represent a failure to invest in robust palliative care” (p. 593).
Evaluation: This paper offers insightful rebuttals for the final research project and questions the viability of PAS.
4. Reference to APA
Mueller, P. S., and Snyder Sulmasy, L. (2017). An American College of Physicians position document on ethics and the legality of physician-assisted suicide. Internal Medicine Annals, 167(8), 576–578. M17-0938 https://doi.org/10.7326
Annotation: The sanctity of life and professional integrity are two ethical precepts that are used in this position paper to argue against PAS. According to the authors, PAS runs counter to the doctor’s healing mission. They talk on the danger of accepting death as a way to end pain.
Important Takeaways: The paper highlights how doctors must provide palliative care and mental health support top priority (p. 577).
Quotes: “The ethical integrity of the medical profession must remain rooted in the preservation of life” (p. 577 ).
Evaluation: From an ethical and professional perspective, this paper offered a strong framework for comprehending objections to PAS.
5. Oregon Health Authority, APA Reference (2022). Annual Report on the Death with Dignity Act. This information was taken from https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Pages/ar-index.aspx.
Annotation: Demographic and result statistics on PAS use in Oregon are included in this paper. It draws attention to patterns in PAS requests and the circumstances surrounding these rulings.
Key Findings: According to the statistics, the main reasons given by terminally ill patients for requesting PAS are loss of autonomy and dignity (p. 12).
“91% of patients cited loss of autonomy as a primary concern” (p. 14) is one example of a quote.
Assessment: This source provides crucial empirical information to back up conversations about patient motivations and PAS patterns.
In conclusion
A complicated interaction between autonomy and the intrinsic value of life is shown by the ethical assessment of PAS using Kantian ethics. The annotated bibliography offers a fair starting point for examining this debate’s philosophical, ethical, and empirical facets. Every source offers distinct perspectives that will deepen the final study effort.
QUESTION
First, return to your topic chosen in the week three assignment.
- Answer this question: What are the personal and/or communal ethical factors that may be involved in determining the moral position of either side in that debate?
- Next, articulate and then evaluate the ethical positions using Kantian ethics (that is, the categorical imperative) relative to the long standing debate (that is your topic chosen in the week three assignment).
- Finally, create a complete annotated bibliography for 5 academic scholarly sources. You will annotate each source. The sources should be relevant to your topic chosen in the week three assignment.
Include the following:
- Publication details
- Annotation (a detailed reading of the source)
Each annotation section should include the following:
- Summarize key points and identify key terms (using quotation marks, and citing a page in parentheses).
- Describe the controversies or “problems” raised by the articles.
- State whether you agree or disagree and give reasons.
- Locate one or two quotations to be used in the final research project.
- Evaluate the ways in which this article is important and has helped you focus your understanding.
Use the following as a model:
APA Reference
Mezirow, J. (2003). Transformative learning as discourse. Journal of Transformative Education, 1(1), 58-63.
Annotation Example
In this article, Mezirow (2003) makes a distinction between “instrumental” and “communicative” learning. “Instrumental learning” refers to those processes which measure and gauge learning, such as tests, grades, comments, quizzes, attendance records and the like. “Communicative learning,” on the other hand, refers to understanding created over time between individuals in what Mezirow calls “critical-dialectical-discourse,” (p. 59) which is a fancy way of saying, important conversation between 2 or more speakers. Another key idea Mezirow discusses is “transformative learning,” (p. 61) which changes the mind, the heart, the values and beliefs of people so that they may act better in the world. Mezirow argues that “hungry, desperate, homeless, sick, destitute, and intimidated people obviously cannot participate fully and freely in discourse” (p. 59). On the one hand, he is right: there are some people who cannot fully engage because their crisis is so long and deep, they are prevented. But, I don’t think Mezirow should make the blanket assumption that everyone in unfortunate circumstances is incapable of entering the discourse meaningfully. One thing is certain: if we gave as much attention to the non-instrumental forms of intelligence–like goodness, compassion, forgiveness, wonder, self-motivation, creativity, humor, love, and other non-measured forms of intelligence in our school curriculums, we’d see better people, actors in the world, and interested investigators than we currently have graduating high school.
Requirements
- Length: 4-7 pages (not including title page or references page)
- 1-inch margins
- Double spaced
- 12-point Times New Roman font
- Title page