Ethical Case Of Karen Ann Quinlan, And Equal Ethics

ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 1: There protection of human life applies to all persons, both to the life of a client and to the lives of all others. In the EPS, this principle takes precedence over every other obligation. “The right to life is the most basic of all rights, for if one’s right to life is violated one cannot enjoy any other rights.” Most physicians follow this principle of saving and prolonging human life, regardless of the resulting quality of life or the economic costs involved. This life-sustaining principle received wide publicity through the case of Karen Ann Quinlan and Terri Schiavo, whose physicians refuse to withdraw life-support systems even though these patients had been unconscious for many years and there was no further hope for any positive change. Today, physicians keep many Americans alive through the use of high-tech life-sustaining instruments. Social workers, on the other hand tend to place more emphasis on improving
At the same time, persons in different situations have the right to be treated differently if the inequality is relevant to the issue in question. Unequal treatment can be justified when other considerations such as beneficence (the duty to do well and not harm others) out-weigh the social justice principle or on the grounds that such unequal treatment will promote greater social justice. For example this principle applies in situations that involve child abuse or elder abuse because the abused child (or elder) and the abuser are not in an equal position. In these circumstances, the principles of confidentiality and autonomy with respect to the abusing adult are of a lower rank order than the obligation to protect the child or older person, even when it is not a question of life and death.

ETHICAL PRINCIPLE