Question

Apply the doctrine of double effect to the following case.

A woman has cancer, but she is also pregnant. We want to save her life, and we can cure her cancer and save her life with chemotherapy. But the chemotherapy will kill her unborn child. Assume natural law theory, which says that directly killing the innocent is always morally wrong. According to the doctrine of double effect, is it morally permissible to give the woman chemotherapy?

Explain what the 4 criteria of the doctrine of double effect would say about this case.

Answer 1

Answer.

Yes , according to the doctrine of double effect it is morally permissible to give the woman chemotherapy. This doctrine says that if accomplishing something morally good has a morally bad symptom it's morally OK to do it giving the bad reaction wasn't expected. This is genuine regardless of whether you predicted that the bad effect would most likely happen.

The principle is utilized to legitimize the situation where a doctor offers drugs to a patient to ease upsetting side effects despite the fact that he knows doing this may abbreviate the patient's life.

This is on the grounds that the doctor isn't pointing specifically at slaughtering the patient - the bad result of the patient's passing is a reaction of the good result of lessening the patient's agony.

Numerous doctors utilize this doctrine to legitimize the utilization of high measurements of drugs, for example, morphine to relieve enduring in terminally-sick patients despite the fact that they know the drugs are probably going to make the patient kick the bucket sooner.

Elements engaged with the doctrine of double effect

The good result must be accomplished freely of the bad one: For the doctrine to apply, the bad result must not be the methods for accomplishing the good one. So if the main way the drug eases the patient's torment is by murdering him, the doctrine of double effect doesn't have any significant bearing.

The action must be proportional to the reason: If I give a patient a measurement of drugs so expansive that it is sure to slaughter them, and that is additionally far more noteworthy than the dosage expected to control their agony, I can't utilize the Doctrine of Double Effect to state that what I did was correct.

The action must be appropriate (an): I additionally need to give the patient the correct prescription. On the off chance that I give the patient a lethal dosage of torment murdering drugs, it's no utilization saying that my goal was to alleviate their side effects of regurgitating if the drug doesn't have any effect on heaving.

The action must be appropriate (b): I likewise need to give the patient the correct solution for their side effects. On the off chance that I give the patient a deadly measurement of agony murdering drugs, it's no utilization saying that my aim was to assuage their indications of torment if the patient wasn't experiencing torment yet from shortness of breath.

The patient must be in a terminal condition: If I give the patient a deadly measurement of torment executing drugs and they would have recuperated from their sickness or damage in the event that I hadn't given them the drugs, it's no utilization saying that my goal was to assuage their agony. What's more, that applies regardless of whether there was no other method for controlling their torment.

The following four criteria has to be fulfilled in order to perform an action that can cause bad effects :-

1. The action itself is morally neutral or morally good.- Curing the lady from cancer is considered to be morally good since it would save a life . So it can be done.

2. The bad effect is not the means by which the good effect is achieved.- The lady will not be cured By killing the unborn child but she will be cured by chemotherapy. The child can die due to this process but in the end it will save her life.

3. The motive must be the achievement of the good effect only. Main motive in this case would be to save the lady from cancer and treat her with chemotherapy.

4. The good effect is at least equivalent in importance to the bad effect. Woman’s life will be saved .