Ethics 8th Edition by Barbara MacKinnon,Andrew Fiala

Exercise 6

Label the following as examples of voluntary or non-voluntary and active or passive euthanasia; if passive, are the measures described more likely to be considered ordinary or extraordinary measures of life support?
a. A person who is dying asks to be given a fatal drug dose to bring about his death.
b. A dying patient asks that no more chemotherapy be administered because it is doing nothing but prolonging her time until death, which is inevitable in a short time anyway.
c. Parents of a newborn whose condition involves moderate retardation refuse permission for a simple surgery that would repair a physical anomaly inconsistent with continued life, and they let the infant die. d. A husband gives his wife a lethal overdose of her pain medicine because he does not want to see her suffer anymore.
e. Doctors decide not to try to start an artificial feeding mechanism for their patient because they believe that it will be futile, that is, ineffective given the condition of their patient.