Medicine against Suicide: Sustaining Solidarity with Those Diminished by Illness and Debility

The medical profession’s increasing acceptance of "physician aid-in-dying" indicates the ascendancy of what we call the provider-of-services model for medicine, in which medical "providers" offer services to help patients maximize their "well-being" according to the wis...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Curlin, Farr A. 1971- (Author) ; Tollefsen, Christopher 1968- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Oxford University Press 2021
In: Christian bioethics
Year: 2021, Volume: 27, Issue: 3, Pages: 250-263
IxTheo Classification:NCH Medical ethics
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Summary:The medical profession’s increasing acceptance of "physician aid-in-dying" indicates the ascendancy of what we call the provider-of-services model for medicine, in which medical "providers" offer services to help patients maximize their "well-being" according to the wishes of the patient. This model contrasts with and contradicts what we call the Way of Medicine, in which medicine is a moral practice oriented to the patient’s health. A steadfast refusal intentionally to harm or kill is a touchstone of the Way of Medicine, one unambiguously affirmed by Christians through the centuries. Moreover, physician aid-in-dying contradicts one of the distinctive contributions that the Christian era brought to medicine, namely, a taken-for-granted solidarity between medical practitioners and those suffering illness and disability. Insofar as medical practitioners cooperate in aid-in-dying, they contradict this solidarity and undermine the trust that patients need to allow themselves to be cared for by physicians when they are sick and debilitated.
ISSN:1744-4195
Contains:Enthalten in: Christian bioethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/cb/cbab010