Importance of Dr. Kevorkian case for Medical Ethics :: Medical Ethics Assisted Suicide Essays

Importance of Dr. Kevorkian case for Medical Ethics The Dr. Kevorkian case is important for medical ethics, because it brings up the issues of physician-assisted suicide and physician-assisted death. Physician-assisted suicide is where the doctor is assisting the patient in suicide, but the patient actually performs the act. Physician-assisted death, also known as euthanasia, is when the doctor does the act to bring about the patient’s death based on the patient’s request. This brings up the limitations of beneficence. Does a doctor have the right to end a patient’s life to relieve their suffering? We can use the principle of double effect to analyze this case. There are four criteria for an act to be ethical according to the principle of double effect (Garrett et al., 2001): 1) â€Å"The action itself must good or morally indifferent. 2) The person must intend only the good effect and not the bad effect. 3) The bad effect cannot be the means to the good effect. 4) There must be a proportionality between the good and bad effects† Killing or assisting in suicide is not a morally indifferent act. Dr. Kevorkian says, â€Å"My intent was only to relieve their suffering, an act that inevitably killed the person.† He justified his acts, because most of his patients had Lou Gehrig’s Disease and could not feed or care for themselves (Murphy, 1999). Although only the good effect was intended, the bad effect (death) was the means to the good effect. The proportionality between the good and bad effect must be analyzed for each specific case. Dr. Kevorkian’s acts violated at least two of the principles of double effect, so they are not ethically justified. Importance of Dr. Kevorkian case for Professional Standards A profession involves the following elements (Garrett et al., 2001): 1) â€Å"a dedication to a particular way-of-life, supportive of a particular expertise 2) a deep involvement in activities important to the function of society