Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics

, Volume 36, Issue 3, pp 197–213 | Cite as

Palliative sedation, foregoing life-sustaining treatment, and aid-in-dying: what is the difference?

Article
First Online:

Abstract

After a review of terminology, I identify—in addition to Margaret Battin’s list of five primary arguments for and against aid-in-dying—the argument from functional equivalence as another primary argument. I introduce a novel way to approach this argument based on Bernard Lonergan’s generalized empirical method (GEM). Then I proceed on the basis of GEM to distinguish palliative sedation, palliative sedation to unconsciousness when prognosis is less than two weeks, and foregoing life-sustaining treatment from aid-in-dying. I conclude (1) that aid-in-dying must be justified on its own merits and not on the basis of these well-established palliative care practices; and (2) that societies must decide, in weighing the merits of aid-in-dying, whether or not to make the judgment that no life is better than life-like-this (however this is specified) part of their operative value structure.

Keywords

Aid-in-dying Palliative sedation Foregoing life-sustaining treatment Judgment of value Good of order Generalized empirical method Bernard Lonergan Functional equivalence argument 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the West Coast Methods Institute in Los Angeles in April 2014 and at the Lonergan Workshop in Boston in June 2014. I would like to thank David Ndegwah for challenging me to recognize that different viewpoints set the conditions for better understanding, especially during times of rapid historical change.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Lonergan InstituteBoston CollegeChestnut HillUSA

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