Deck 8: Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide

Question 1

The decision to remove Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, thus allowing her to die of dehydration, is a case of:

A) voluntary euthanasia.
B) physician-assisted suicide.
C) passive euthanasia.
D) active euthanasia.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

All cases of euthanasia in which the patient has consented to the active bringing of his or her death are cases of

A) voluntary euthanasia.
B) involuntary euthanasia.
C) nonvoluntary euthanasia.
D) passive euthanasia.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following is, according to the introduction to chapter 8, typically defined as the act or practice of killing or allowing someone to die?

A) murder
B) ethical killing
C) suicide
D) euthanasia

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Cases in which a doctor is involved to some degree in assisting an individual to commit suicide are known as

A) mercy killing.
B) physician-assisted suicide.
C) involuntary euthanasia.
D) all of the above

Question 5

Which of the following conditions would make a slippery-slope argument fallacious?

A) The envisioned results of the action or practice under consideration turn out not to be bad.
B) The central idea of the argument-that the action or practice under consideration will lead us down a path to disaster-turns out not to be plausible.
C) both A and B are correct; either condition would make the argument fallacious.
D) neither A nor B is correct; neither condition would make the argument fallacious.

Question 6

If the killing/letting die distinction is morally relevant, then that would show that the following distinction is also morally relevant:

A) killing/murder
B) physician/patient
C) active/passive euthanasia
D) involuntary/nonvoluntary euthanasia

Question 7

Rachels believes that active euthanasia is better than passive euthanasia in cases where

A) the patient will suffer more if he or she is allowed to die, compared to how much he or she would suffer if the physician actively ended his or her life.
B) the patient will suffer less if he or she is allowed to die, compared to how much he or she would suffer if the physician actively ended his or her life.
C) the patient clearly states that he or she would prefer to live as long as possible.
D) none of the above

Question 8

Rachels compares the cases of Smith and Jones to show that

A) killing is in itself morally worse than letting die.
B) letting die in itself is morally worse than killing.
C) killing is not in itself morally worse than letting die.
D) none of the above

Question 9

In Rachels's thought experiment with Smith and Jones, Smith's action (i.e., his holding the child underwater) is supposed to be an example of

A) killing
B) letting die.
C) assisted suicide.
D) none of the above

Question 10

In Rachels's thought experiment with Smith and Jones, Jones's action (i.e., his watching the child, who slipped accidentally, drowned in the tub) is supposed to be an example of

A) killing
B) letting die.
C) assisted suicide.
D) none of the above

Question 11

Which of the following best characterizes Rachels's argument?

A) Both active and passive euthanasia involve the intentional termination of a human life with dignity; therefore, both are morally wrong.
B) Neither active nor passive euthanasia involves the intentional termination of a human life with dignity; therefore, both are morally permissible.
C) There is no inherent moral difference between killing and letting die; therefore, there is no inherent moral difference between active and passive euthanasia.
D) There is no inherent moral difference between killing and letting die; therefore, both active and passive euthanasia are morally wrong.

Question 12

Philippa Foot explains the moral relevance of the killing/letting die distinction by appealing to

A) rights of noninterference.
B) rights to goods and services.
C) both A and B
D) neither A nor B

Question 13

Which of the following is an example of a duty that corresponds to a right to goods and service?

A) John's duty to return to Mary that car that he borrowed from her
B) John's duty to allow Mary to pursue goals that she values
C) John's duty to not harm Mary
D) John's duty to not commit suicide

Question 14

The question of whether the killing/letting die distinction is morally relevant can be posed by asking whether we are equally to blame for allowing people in Third World countries to starve as we would be for
)

A) killing them by sending poisoned food.
B) refusing to give them the money they need to purchase food.
C) withholding medicine that they need to survive.
D) depriving them of knowledge they need to produce food.

Question 15

Foot's Rescue I and Rescue II cases are intended to

A) contrast evil intentions with good intentions.
B) contrast originating a harmful sequence with allowing a harmful sequence to continue.
C) show that evil intentions always involve the origination of harmful sequences.
D) all of the above

Question 16

Callahan is against the legalization of euthanasia because he believes legalization would

A) be contrary to the Constitution of the United States.
B) teach society the wrong kind of lesson.
C) violate our right to self-determination.
D) none of the above

Question 17

Callahan discusses the Dutch Commission on Euthanasia in 1990 to show that

A) laws permitting euthanasia can and have been abused.
B) doctors who perform euthanasia may not report doing so.
C) both A and B
D) neither A nor B

Question 18

Callahan cites the Oregon Death with Dignity Legal Defense and the Education Center's finding that "after four full years . . . there have been no missteps, abuses or coercive tendencies" regarding laws permitting euthanasia. In response he argues that

A) they can't know this to be true without an anonymous survey.
B) other studies have found contrary results.
C) even if the finding is true, it is irrelevant to the moral status of euthanasia.
D) the findings are suspect because the study was performed by advocates of euthanasia.

Question 19

Michael Gill begins by discussing arguments against autonomy-based justifications of euthanasia. According to these arguments, autonomy-based justifications are contradictory because

A) the value of autonomy relates only to the making of big decisions.
B) terminally ill patients are not capable of freely choosing to end their own lives.
C) killing a person destroys his or her ability to make autonomous decisions.
D) above of the above

Question 20

According to Gill, the moral value of autonomy mostly consists in

A) the ability to act and choose while free from distress.
B) the ability to choose to end one's own life.
C) the ability to make important life decision on the basis of our deepest values.
D) the duty to not interfere with the free choices of others.

Question 21

Which of the following statements best describes Gill's response to the argument that the Oregon physician-assisted law falsely assumes that doctors are qualified to judge whether a life is worth living?

A) Doctors are as qualified as any other mature adult to decide whether a life is worth living.
B) Doctors are normally required to make life-and-death decisions, and this is no exception.
C) The argument is self-defeating because it was proposed by medical doctors.
D) The law only requires doctors to make medical decisions about the patient's life expectancy and prognosis.

Question 22

Why, according to Gill, does Leon Kass think the notion of being "better off dead" is incoherent?

A) because dead people no longer exist, and thus cannot benefit from choosing to die.
B) because some things (e.g., long-term torture) are worse than death.
C) because there has yet to be a satisfactory philosophical explanation of why death is bad.
D) because death is, by definition, undesirable.

Question 23

Which of the following best describes Gill's response to Kass's argument that the notion of being "better off dead" is incoherent?

A) Nonexistent people can still benefit from some things.
B) Even if the notion is incoherent, there's nothing incoherent about preferring to be dead.
C) Not suffering is always better than suffering.
D) Kass unjustifiably assumes that dying implies no longer existing.

Question 24

Gill describes Kass, Pelegrino, and Callahan as arguing that the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment is morally acceptable while physician-assisted suicide is not. In their view, this is because

A) the main intention of physicians who withdraw treatment is to kill the patient, not relieve suffering.
B) the main intention of physicians who withdraw treatment is to relieve suffering, not kill the patient.
C) killing and letting die are morally equivalent.
D) many patients recover even after their treatment is withheld.

Question 25

According to Velleman, who, if anyone, should decide whether a patient receives euthanasia?

A) the patient
B) the patient's family
C) the patient's caregiver
D) legislators

Question 26

Velleman believes that euthanasia can be justified on the basis of

A) Kantian considerations.
B) consequentialist considerations.
C) existentialist considerations.
D) feminist considerations.

Question 27

Velleman worries that, by offering a patient the option of euthanasia,

A) we allow the patient to harm him- or herself.
B) we force doctors to harm the patient.
C) we harm the patient's family.
D) we harm the patient.

Question 28

Velleman worries that the word dignity is sometimes used (incorrectly) to glorify which of the following:

A) a patient's capacity for self-determination
B) a patient's worthiness of being protected or cared for
C) Western culture's obsession with youth, strength, and independence
D) none of the above

Question 29

One way to value a patient's autonomy is by aiming to maximize his or her effective options. When we value a patient's autonomy in this way, what, according to Velleman, do we value?

A) the patient's opportunities for self-determination
B) the patient's capacity for self-determination
C) the ability to provide the patient with options
D) the ability to share reasons with the patient

Question 30

Velleman believes that the option of euthanasia may harm some patients. What does he think is the most significant way in which this might happen?

A) by burdening a patient with having to justify his or her continued existence
B) by eliminating the patient's capacity for self-determination
C) by eliminating a patient's opportunities for self-determination
D) by tempting a patient to undergo a painful procedure

Question 31

By definition, euthanasia involves actively intervening to end a person's life (e.g., administering lethal amounts of pain medication).

Question 32

Kant argued that suicide is morally wrong because of the grief and suffering it causes.

Question 33

According to an ethic of prima facie duties, if euthanasia and suicide count as harms, then one has a prime facie obligation not to engage in such actions.

Question 34

Intentionally taking human life is always wrong according to natural law theory.

Question 35

James Rachels argues that the active/passive euthanasia distinction is morally relevant.

Question 36

According to Rachels, killing is intrinsically morally worse than letting someone die.

Question 37

Rachels's understanding of the 1973 AMA policy is that it forbids all mercy killing but permits some cases of allowing a person to die.

Question 38

Rachels claims that the cessation of treatment (in cases of passive euthanasia) falls under the AMA's category of "the intentional termination of the life of one human being by another."

Question 39

Philippa Foot argues that the difference between act and omission fully explains the difference between killing and letting die.

Question 40

According to Foot, whenever a right to noninterference is violated, a right to goods/services is overridden.

Question 41

Callahan would agree that laws permitting euthanasia are permissible so long as anonymous surveys are regularly performed to make sure such laws are not abused.

Question 42

According to Callahan, there is no inherent moral difference between killing a patient directly by euthanasia and allowing a patient to die by deliberating terminating a patient's life-supporting treatment.

Question 43

Michael Gill argues that every competent and well-informed adult has the moral right to commit suicide.

Question 44

According to Gill, the value of autonomy comes mostly from the ability to make "big decisions" that shape our lives.

Question 45

Gill argues that giving terminally ill patients the option of physician-assisted suicide at least sometimes enhances their autonomy.

Question 46

According to Gill, the principle of double effect implies that it is bad for a person to die sooner rather than later.

Question 47

Velleman believes the option of euthanasia forces a patient to take responsibility for his or her continued existence.

Question 48

Velleman suggests that "the people with whom a patient wants to maintain intercourse" by continuing to live would never put pressure on him or her to exercise his or her right to die.

Question 49

According to Velleman, it's sometimes defensible to euthanize competent patients without their consent.

Question 50

Velleman recognizes that his argument against euthanasia is paternalistic.

Question 51

Cases of _________ euthanasia are those in which the patient has not given his or her consent to be subject to euthanasia because the patient has not expressed a view about what others may do in case, for example, he or she goes into a persistent vegetative state.

Question 52

Cases of _________ euthanasia are those in which the patient expresses (or may be presumed to have) a desire not to be the subject of euthanasia.

Question 53

So-called death with _________ laws permit those who are diagnosed as being terminally ill to request medication that could end their lives.

Question 54

The American Medical Association opposes physician-assisted suicide on the grounds that it "is fundamentally incompatible with the physician's role as a(n) _________."

Question 55

Intentionally withholding life-sustaining treatment is an example of _________ euthanasia.

Question 56

Rachels argues that "letting someone die" is different from other types of actions, but he argues that, for purposes of moral assessment, it is still a type of _________ (i.e., something one does).

Question 57

In Rachels's article, the 1973 AMA policy equates mercy killing with "the _________ termination of the life of one human being by another."

Question 58

One of Rachels's main worries is that the law is forcing upon doctors not just a legal doctrine but also a(n) _________ doctrine that may be indefensible.

Question 59

Philippa Foot says we can mark the distinction between harming someone and allowing that person to be harmed by saying that one person may or may not be the _________ of harm that befalls someone else.

Question 60

Foot would agree that killing someone would violate his or her right to _________, but allowing him or her to die (e.g., by not feeding him or her) would not.

Question 61

Callahan believes the need for euthanasia is reduced by high-quality _________ care (i.e., "that part of medicine that aims to reduce pain and suffering").

Question 62

The anonymous Dutch survey on euthanasia, says Callahan, revealed that nearly one-third of the reported euthanasia deaths were cases of _________ euthanasia, where a life was terminated without explicit request.

Question 63

Michael Gill states, "The value the Oregon law is intended to promote is the _________ of human beings" (i.e., roughly, the ability to make one's own decisions).

Question 64

Gill maintains that "to respect a person's autonomy is, first and foremost, to respect a person's ability to make _________ decisions" (i.e., decisions that determine the course of your life).

Question 65

Gill describes Kass, Pellegrino, and Callahan as appealing to the law of _________ effect to explain how they can consistently endorse the practice of withdrawing life-sustaining treatment for terminally ill patients.

Question 66

According to Gill, the Oregon law has two criteria that a patient must meet before physician-assisted suicide is a legal option. The patient must be terminally ill, and he or she must be _________ (i.e., capable of making a rational and informed decision).

Question 67

According to Velleman, in some circumstances, a lack of options can be a(n) _________.

Question 68

Velleman believes that, to avoid harm, we are sometimes required to _________ options.

Question 69

Velleman's argument against an institutional right to die proceeds on _________ rather than on Kantian grounds.

Question 70

According to Velleman, to value a patient's capacity for self-determination is to accord it _________.