Beneficent Euthanasia

284 Pages·1975·22.394 MB·English

by  Marvin Kohl (ed.)

^^'"
cMiM
'e^'S-r
<tf«^
vu.
.
Digitized by tine Internet Archive
2010
in
http://www.archive.org/details/beneficenteuthanOOkohl
Beneficent Euthanasia
It may be [that] they [martyrs who took their
own lives] were not deceived by human judg-
ment, but prompted by divine wisdom, to
their act of self-destruction. We know this
wasthe casewith Samson. Andwhen God en-
joins anyact, and intimates by plain evidence
that He has enjoined it, who will call obedi-
ence criminal? Who will accuse so religious a
submission? . . . He, then, who knows it is
unlawful to kill himself, may nevertheless do
so if he is ordered by Him whose commands
we may not neglect.
—
Saint Augustine
I expect to pass through this world but once;
anygood thingthereforethat I can do, or any
kindness that I can show to any fellow-crea-
ture, let me do it now; let me not defer or
neglect it, for I shall not pas—s this way again.
StephenGrellet
Beneficent
Euthanasia
edited by
Marvin Kohl
IS Prometheus Books
NY
Buffalo,
Dedicated ingratitudetothememoriesof
myfather,JesseKohl(1900-1%5)
and
myfriend DianaLivingston(1932-1973)
Published 1975 by Prometheus Books
923 Kensington Avenue. Buffalo, New York 14215
Copyright © by Prometheus Books
All rights reserved
Second Printing
Library of Congress Card Number 74-84281
ISBN 0-87975-047-2
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
PREFACE
ix
INTRODUCTION
xii
RELIGIOETHICAL ISSUES
JEWISHVIEWSOFEUTHANASIA 3
Byron L. Sherwin
THEIMMORALITYOFEUTHANASIA 12
Joseph V. Sullivan
ACATHOLICVIEWOFMERCYKILLING 34
Daniel C. Maguire
THE"RIGHT"TOLIVEANDTHE"RIGHT"TODIE 44
Joseph Fletcher
UNDERLYING QUESTIONS
II.
THEETHICSOFSUICIDE 57
Sidney Hook
DEATHANDDIGNITY 70
Robert Hoffman
RIGHTS.JUSTICE,ANDEUTHANASIA 81
Bertram and Elsie Bandman
20641
Contents
CONSENTINGTOONE'SOWNDEATH:THECASEOFBRUTUS 100
Michael Walzer
AMORALPRINCIPLEABOUTKILLING 106
Richard Brandt
BENEFICENCE: TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS
III.
BENEFICENTEUTHANASIAANDBENEMORTASIA:
ALTERNATIVE VIEWSOFMERCY 117
Arthur Dyck
VOLUNTARY BENEFICENT EUTHANASIA 130
Marvin Kohl
MEDICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES
IV.
EUTHANASIAANDTHEPHYSICIAN 145
Glanville Williams
EUTHANASIAANDTHETYRANNYOFTECHNOLOGY 169
Thomas W. Furlow. Jr.
ETHICALISSUESINAIDINGTHEDEATHOFYOUNGCHILDREN 180
H. Tristram Engelhardt. Jr.
SOME PSYCHIATRIC ISSUES OF EUTHANASIA 193
Joe P. Tupin
ONTHEVOLUNTARYEUTHANASIABILLOF1969 204
Edith Summerskill
VOLUNTARYEUTHANASIAACT, 98—? 209
1
Mary Rose Barrington
VOLUNTARYEUTHANASIAANDTHELAW 218
Baruch Brody