What makes killing wrong?

J Med Ethics

Department of Philosophy and Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.

Published: January 2013

What makes an act of killing morally wrong is not that the act causes loss of life or consciousness but rather that the act causes loss of all remaining abilities. This account implies that it is not even pro tanto morally wrong to kill patients who are universally and irreversibly disabled, because they have no abilities to lose. Applied to vital organ transplantation, this account undermines the dead donor rule and shows how current practices are compatible with morality.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2011-100351DOI Listing

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