This morning on Good Morning America, Diane Sawyer interviewed an attorney named John West. He has recently written a book entitled, "The Last Goodnights: Assisting My Parents with Their Suicides." His father, "Jolly" West, a renowned psychiatrist, had been diagnosed with cancer with only months to live. He asked John to assist him in his suicide which he did by providing him with a cocktail of pills. His death was attributed to cancer.
Later his mother Kathyrn "K", a clinical psychologist, was diagnosed with alzheimers and she made the same request of John and he complied.
John says that his parents had "deep insight into the human condition . . . and they knew what they wanted."
John believes as his parents did in "freedom of choice" and the right to choose death with dignity. Assisted suicide is not lawful. Even if it is intended as an act of mercy. The statue of limitations for assisted suicide has expired but John could still be charged with homicide or possibly murder.
John and his parents both knew the law and yet they decided to break the law because it would ease the pain and suffering due to their deteriorating health condition.
A non-consequentialist would say that John responded out of duty, obligation, principle (and love) and those considerations are more important than the consequence of possibly serving jail time.
West's desire is that his book will promote debate and discussion so that others will not have to break the law but that the laws would be changed.
Obviously the utility of Jolly's and K's lives revolved more around pain than pleasure.
So was John West justified in what he did? Did he make the right ethical choice? The law says no. His answer would obviously be yes.
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2 comments:
I agree that John would determine that his actions are justified in the name of mercy. The law has made assisted suicide illegal, because no one has the right to take his own life. Time and again survivors of attempted suicide realize that their decision to die was based on desperation. Depressed individuals are not thinking clearly. They are not in their right mind. As a result, are we really honoring their wishes or just complying with the request of a clouded mind? Circumstances do change and often many good consequences come from interaction with one who is at the end. I do not think that the consequentialist can accurately determine what the consequences are.
I know that I am influencesed by my own experience. When my children were young I took them to visit in the nursing facilities regularly. One of the patients we saw was on her death bed. She could not move. She asked that I bring her the prayer request from our church. She would pray for each individual need. When I would return I would share with her what was going on with these individuals that she had never met, but prayed for. When she died the church was packed with people whose lives were changed by the way this woman lived every minute of her life. Who are we to say that the consequence of a painful, short life is merely pain and suffering?
I heard John West on the Diane Rehm show on NPR yesterday. After last night's class, I too thought about that show and the ethic theories we discussed in class. Being that both parents were involved in the medical field, they probably did know of the consequences they were facing with their diseases. One could argue that they were acting as consequentialist - the consequences of living with their diseases were far worse than living with the consequences of their decisions to die with dignity.
This is an example of the difference of legal vs ethical. Being a lawyer, John was very aware that what he was doing was not legal, yet he felt it was his obligation to abide by his parent's wishes. Some will argue that what John did was ethical and others will argue that it was not ethical. His book, will no doubt, spark much debate. Diane Rehm read an email from a doctor in rural upstate New York who was opposed to what John did and said he knew of no doctors who had done such a thing. (John West had pointed out at doctor assisted suicide was common among doctor's and their patients that worked in the medical field.)
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