Counting the Cost of Denying Assisted Dying

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Counting the Cost of Denying Assisted Dying

JournalArticle (Originalarbeit in einer wissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift)

ID	4610709
Author(s)	Shaw, David; Morton, Alec
Author(s) at UniBasel	Shaw, David
Year	2020
Title	Counting the Cost of Denying Assisted Dying
Journal	Clinical Ethics
Volume	15
Number	2
Pages / Article-Number	65-70
Abstract	n this paper, we propose and defend three economic arguments for permitting assisted dying. These arguments are not intended to provide a rationale for legalising assisted suicide or euthanasia in and of themselves; rather, they are supplementary arguments that should not be neglected when considering the ethics of assisted dying. The first argument is that permitting assisted dying allows consenting patients to avoid negative quality-adjusted life years, enabling avoidance of suffering. The second argument is that the resources consumed by patients who are denied assisted dying could instead be used to provide additional (positive) quality-adjusted life years for patients elsewhere in the healthcare system who wish to continue living and to improve their quality of life. The third argument is that organ donation may be an additional potential source of quality-adjusted life years in this context. We also anticipate and provide counterarguments to several objections to our thesis. Taken together, the cumulative avoidance of negative quality-adjusted life years and gain in positive quality-adjusted life years suggest that permitting assisted dying would substantially benefit both the small population that seeks assisted suicide or euthanasia, and the larger general population. As such, denying assisted dying is a lose–lose situation for all patients.
Publisher	Sage
ISSN/ISBN	1477-7509 ; 1758-101X
edoc-URL	https://edoc.unibas.ch/80051/
Full Text on edoc	No
Digital Object Identifier DOI	10.1177/1477750920907996

01/05/2024

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