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...
Authors: | ; |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Oxford University Press
2021
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In: |
Christian bioethics
Year: 2021, Volume: 27, Issue: 3, Pages: 250-263 |
IxTheo Classification: | NCH Medical ethics |
Online Access: |
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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. |
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ISSN: | 1744-4195 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Christian bioethics
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/cb/cbab010 |