136).
A major factor underlying whether active or passive euthanasia is legal is whether the doctor intends to kill the patient or not (Lewis, 2009, p. 126). Rachels hits on the intent piece in one of his constructed examples, "Rather, the other factors - the murderer's motive of personal gain, for example, contrasted with the doctor's humanitarian motivation -account for different reactions to the different cases." The Colombian Constitutional Court actually ruled doctors are negligent if they ignore a terminally ill, competent patient's request for active euthanasia, a position which actually moves closer to Rachels' side of the debate (Michlowski, 2009, p. 192). The Canadian Medical Association's inquiry into Belgian euthanasia included asking about the doctors' "explicit intention of hastening the end of life or of enabling the patient to end his or her own life" (Chambaere et al., 2010, p. 896). This intent underlies the principle of "double effect," if palliative treatment that carries the known likely or expected side effect of hastening death, does not constitute the intent to end the patient's life, and this is a widely recognized and accepted practice (Michlowski, 2009, p. 185). Where the doctor cannot prove the intent was not to hasten death, consequences are usually severe (Lewis, 2009, p. 126), although some argue prosecutors look the other way (Tucker & Steele, 2007, p. 322).
While these three components are nearly universal in states where passive and sometimes active euthanasia are legal, these jurisdictions are the exception rather than the norm, a minority vastly outweighed by the rest of the world where allowing someone to die through negligence remains at the top of the list of heinous crimes (Michlowski, 2009, p. 187). At the same time, individuals usually have the right to refuse even life-saving emergency medical treatment (Columbian Court, quoted in Michlowski, 2009, p. 204). The result is that "even the most advanced and liberal countries in the world have not reached an agreement on the desirability of legalizing active euthanasia" (Michlowski, 2009, p. 216), and disagree on practice within the group where passive and active euthanasia are condoned.
Nor do professional associations provide a clear consensus to anyone outside their membership, because they often contradict each other. Many of them disagree with the AMA position Rachels frames his argument in terms of. The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) asserts "Most would choose to live if they had full confidence that the care system would serve them well," and so...
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