Altruism and physician assisted death

Area of Science:

• Medical Ethics
• Bioethics
• End-of-Life Care

Background:

• Statutes permitting physician assisted death (PAD) are increasingly debated.
• Core rationales for PAD include respect for individual autonomy, suffering avoidance, and death with dignity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address two key moral issues arising from the implementation of PAD laws.
• To explore the ethical justification for including patients with altruistic or self-interested motivations for seeking PAD.
• To examine the ethical basis for extending PAD to non-terminal patients.

Main Methods:

• Moral and ethical argumentation.
• Analysis of the foundational principles justifying PAD laws.

Main Results:

• The ethical rationale for PAD justifies assisting patients regardless of whether their motivation is altruistic or self-interested.
• The principles underlying PAD laws support their extension to include certain non-terminal patients.

Conclusions:

• PAD laws, grounded in autonomy and dignity, can ethically encompass a broader range of patient motivations and conditions.
• Ethical frameworks support the expansion of physician assisted death to include non-terminal individuals and those with diverse motivations.