{{ block title }} Doctor {{ endblock }} {{ block content }}
MCT-engl. © 1977-2009 by Georg Lind (rev. 06-2009)
A woman had cancer and she had no hope of being saved. She was in terrible pain and was so weak that a large dose of a painkiller such as morphine would have caused her to die. During a brief period of improvement, she begged the doctor to give her enough morphine to kill her. She said she could no longer stand the pain and would be dead in a few weeks anyway. After some thinking, the doctor decided to give her an overdose of morphine.
Do you agree or disagree with the doctor’s action? |
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How acceptable do you find the following arguments in favor of the doctor’s actions? Suppose someone said he acted in a right way . . .
because the doctor had to act according to his conscience and what he believed was right. The woman's pain made it right for the doctor to ignore his moral obligation to preserve life. |
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because the doctor was the only one who could do what the woman asked; respect for her wish made him act the way he did. |
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because the doctor only did what the woman talked him into doing. He does not need to worry about negative consequences. |
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because the woman would have died anyway and it didn't take much effort for him to give her an overdose of a painkiller |
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because the doctor didn't really break the law. Nobody could have saved the woman and he only wanted to shorten her suffering. |
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because most of his fellow doctors would most probably have done the same thing in a similar situation. |
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How acceptable do you find the arguments presented against the doctor’s action? Suppose someone said that he acted in a wrong way. . .
because he acted opposite to other doctors´ beliefs. If the rest of them are against mercy-killing, then the doctor shouldn't have done it. |
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because a person should be able to have complete faith in a doctor's commitment to save every life even if someone with great pain would rather die. |
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because protection of life is everyone's highest moral duty. We have no clear moral way of telling the difference between mercy-killing and plain murder. |
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because the doctor could get himself into a lot of trouble. Other doctors were punished before for doing the same thing. |
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because he could have had it much easier if he had waited and not interfered with the woman's dying. |
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because the doctor broke the law. If a person thinks that mercy-killing is illegal, then one should refuse such requests from the patient. |
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Moral Judgement Test MCT / MKT. International Copyright © 1977-2014 by Georg Lind. No copying allowed without written permission. Free for use in institutions of public education and basic research. Contact: Georg.Lind@uni-konstanz.de More information: http://www.uni-konstanz.de/ag-moral/ .