What is an example of the doctrine of double effect?

In cases when saving the life of a pregnant woman causes the death of her unborn child – for example, performing an abortion when continuing the pregnancy would risk killing the mother – some people argue that this is a case of the doctrine of double effect.

What is an example of the rule of double effect RDE )?

Several historical misapplications of the RDE provide easy targets for opponents of double effect, while misguiding those who are in support of its use. For example, proponents of RDE who are opposed to abortion have attempted to use double effect to justify operating on a tubal ectopic pregnancy.

What are the 4 criteria for the principle of double effect?

Classical formulations of the principle of double effect require that four conditions be met if the action in question is to be morally permissible: first, that the action contemplated be in itself either morally good or morally indifferent; second, that the bad result not be directly intended; third, that the good …

What is the doctrine of double effect in what kind of situations is it used?

Double effect can produce an unexpected moral result: If you do think that a quicker death is better than a slower one then the Doctrine of Double Effect shows that a doctor who intended to kill the patient is morally superior to a doctor who merely intended to relieve pain.

What is the rule of double effect?

Although variously formulated, the traditional rule of double effect specifies that an action with 2 possible effects, one good and one bad, is morally permitted if the action: (1) is not in itself immoral, (2) is undertaken only with the intention of achieving the possible good effect, without intending the possible …

What are two components of the principle of beneficence?

The principle of beneficence is a moral obligation to act for the benefit of others. There are 2 aspects of beneficence: 1. Balancing benefits and risks/harms.

What is double effect in nursing?

“The principle of double effect provides justification in which the process is based on the intended outcome of pain and symptom relief and the proportionality of benefit and harm. The intent of palliative sedation is to relieve suffering in dying patients but not to deliberately hasten death.

When to use the doctrine of double effect?

The doctrine (or principle) of double effect is often invoked to explain the permissibility of an action that causes a serious harm, such as the death of a human being, as a side effect of promoting some good end.

Which is a second misinterpretation of the double effect?

A second misinterpretation is fostered by applications of double effect that contrast the permissibility of causing a harm as a merely foreseen side effect of pursuing a good end with the impermissibility of aiming at the same kind of harm as one’s end.

What are the four conditions of the double effect?

A person may licitly perform an action that he foresees will produce a good effect and a bad effect provided that four conditions are verified at one and the same time: that the action in itself from its very object be good or at least indifferent; that the good effect and not the evil effect be intended;

Who are the people who reject the double effect?

This doctrine of double effect is rejected by utilitarians and other consequentialists who deny the moral relevance of intentions. J. S. Mill, for example, denies that good intentions (or “motives”) matter.