Euthanasia Medical Ethics Discussion

DECISION SCENARIO 2
What Would He Want?
Jeffry Box was eighty-one years old when he was
brought to Doctor’s Hospital. His right side was para-
lyzed, he spoke in a garbled way, and he had trouble
understanding even the simplest matters. His only
known relative was a sister four years younger, and
she lived half a continent away. When a hospital social
worker called to tell her about her brother’s condi-
tion, she was quite uninterested.“I haven’t seen him in
fifteen years,” she said. “I thought he might already be
dead. Just do whatever you think best for him. I’m too
old to worry about him.”
Neurological tests and X-ray studies showed that
Mr. Box was suffering from a brain hemorrhage caused
by a ruptured blood vessel.
“Can
you
fix it?” asked Dr. Hollins. She was the
resident responsible for Mr. Box’s primary care. The
man she addressed was Dr. Carl Oceana, the staff’s
only neurosurgeon.
“Sure,” said Dr. Oceana. “I can repair the vessel
and clean out the mess. But it won’t do much good,
“And if you don’t operate?” Dr. Hollins asked.
Dr. Oceana shrugged. “He’ll be dead by tomorrow.
Maybe sooner, depending on how long it takes for the
pressure in his skull to build up.”
“What would you do?”
“I know what I would want done to me if I were
the patient,” said Dr. Oceana. “I’d want people to keep
their knives out of my head and let me die a nice,
peaceful death.”
“But we don’t know what he would want,” Dr. Hollins
said. “He’s never been our patient before, and the social
worker hasn’t been able to find any friends who might
tell us what he’d want done.”
“Let’s just put ourselves in his place,” said Dr.
Oceana. “Let’s do unto others what we would want
done unto us.”
“That means letting Mr. Box die.”
“Exactly.”
1. On what grounds might one object to Dr. Oceana’s
view?
you know.”
2. Would active euthanasia be justified?
3. Would the natural law view make the operation
discussed a moral mandate?
“You mean he’ll still be paralyzed?”
“And he’ll still be mentally incoherent. After the
operation he’ll have to be put in a chronic-care place,
because he won’t be able to see to his own needs.”