Is withdrawing life-prolonging treatment the same as killing?

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- osmanthus
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Is withdrawing life-prolonging treatment the same as killing?
OP - March 14, 2014, 09:17 PM

Here's one for the philostofuckers. According to this bloke, they're not the same thing:

Withdrawing life-prolonging treatment not the same as killing

He's trying to argue that deliberate euthanasia is qualitatively different to simply withdrawing treatment. I can't see that his arguments really make sense. They seem rather desperate and contrived. Thoughts?

Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West.
- Ishina
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Is withdrawing life-prolonging treatment the same as killing?
Reply #1 - March 14, 2014, 09:33 PM

I don't even need to read it to know he's wrong.

Too fucking busy, and vice versa.
- Ishina
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Is withdrawing life-prolonging treatment the same as killing?
Reply #2 - March 14, 2014, 09:48 PM

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The other side of that equation is the fact the patient’s life is being prolonged in the first place.

Prohibiting euthanasia is also prolonging life. Usually against the person's wishes. Sometimes prolonging an agonising or unbearable existence. Which makes it even more ethically suspect.

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We are really allowing the resumption of a process that was already killing the patient.

Yeah, ok, so we can't kill a baby if we don't give it food. It's natural processes that killed it. And it's not murder if you switch off the life support of a critically injured person. It's just letting nature take its course.

Too fucking busy, and vice versa.
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