Wrongness Of Killing Is Wrong

“Everyone agrees that killing a fully developed person is normally wrong. And there is similar agreement that death is bad for the one who dies, though philosophers have been puzzled about how to explain this. But how is the wrongness of killing related to the badness of dying? The answer is that killing is wrong precisely because it inflicts the badness of death upon the victim. Or, to put it another way, killing is wrong because it harms the victim by causing all that is bad about death.” The topic of killing versus allowing a person to die is a major ethical debate when it comes to decisions made during the process of end of life of an individual. “End of life care is about the total care of a person with an advanced incurable illness and …show more content…
“After three years of being kept alive by ANH and one-to-one nursing, Anthony’s medical team sought a declaration from the High Court that they may lawfully terminate ANH. They submitted that since robust medical evidence and opinion indicated no prospect of improvement for Bland, ANH withdrawal was in his best interest and in accordance with good medical practice.” Common medical practice indicates that a medical professional must attempt to act in ways that most benefit the patient and prevent them from harm. The medical team in this situation believed that by removing health support it was considered good medical practice because it was in Bland’s best interest. "Withdrawal of treatment was lawful because even if treatment were continued it would confer no benefit upon the patient and therefore was not in his best interests. Hence the doctors responsible for the patient 's treatment were neither under a duty, nor entitled to continue such medical care. Bland had no hope of recovery and therefore had no further interest in being kept alive. It had previously been a duty when at the time of his admission there was hope he might recover and therefore he might benefit from the treatment.”4 The case of Anthony Bland is an example of how the sanctity of life doctrine sates Bland should have been kept alive, while on the other hand, …show more content…
As health professionals, they have a duty keep their patients alive and safe. They also have a duty to cause no harm to their patient and think in their best interests. These two cases resulted in different outcomes. In the case of Bland, the health professionals viewed the sanctity of life principal as means to help their case in depriving the patient. In the case of Rasouli, the doctors were also attempting to remove the patient of life support but were unsuccessful due to the patient’s family. Overall, the main ethical issue regarding end of life treatment in regards to the sanctity of life principal is who has the final say? Should doctors be able to override the wishes of family members, or do family members get the final