Why does removing machines count as "passive" euthanasia?: An article from: The Hastings Center Report

This digital document is an article from The Hastings Center Report, published by Hastings Center on May 1, 1997. The length of the article is 8640 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: The distinction between "passive" and "active" euthanasia, though problematic and highly criticized, retains a certain intuitive appeal. When a patient is allowed to die, nature appears simply to be taking its course. Yet when a patient is killed by, say, a lethal injection, humans appear to be causing his or her death. Guilt seems to follow naturally from the latter act while not from the former. Yet this view only holds up if age-old and vague ideas about "nature" and "artifice" go unscrutinized. Once examined more closely the functional relevance of particular machines to particular bodies becomes evident. And the innocence and guilt less clear.

Citation Details
Title: Why does removing machines count as "passive" euthanasia?
Author: Patrick D. Hopkins
Publication:The Hastings Center Report (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 1997
Publisher: Hastings Center
Volume: v27 Issue: n3 Page: p29(9)

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