This essay reviews a range of issues arising from the complex case of Terri Schiavo and the lessons the case raises for bioethicists. It argues that embedded in the case is a broader controversy than is immediately evident, one involving the definitions by which bioethics judge cases of extreme physical and psychological limits, in its principled form of address. Further, it argues that bioethicists who assume the issues involved in the case are settled miss the point of the emotional responses (...) it has brought forth. (shrink)

The rule of double effect is regularly invoked in ethical discussions about palliative sedation, terminal extubation and other clinical acts that may be viewed as hastening death for imminently dying patients. Unfortunately, the literature tends to employ this useful principle in a fashion suggesting that it offers the final word on the moral acceptability of such medical procedures. In fact, the rule cannot be applied appropriately without invoking moral theories that are not explicit in the rule itself. Four tenets of (...) the rule each require their own ethical justification. A variety of moral theories are relevant to making judgements in a pluralistic society. Much of the rich moral conversation germane to the rule has been reflected in arguments about physician-asssisted suicide and voluntary active euthanasia, but the rule itself has limited relevance to these debates, and requires its own moral justifications when applied to other practices that might hasten death. (shrink)

Este artículo analiza la posibilidad de una lectura analógica de la ética singeriana. Estudia, primero, las bases de la hermenéutica analógica de M.Beuchot. Seguidamente, las aplica a cada uno de los universos éticos de P. Singer. Finalmente, desvela el esquema de su ética, que será la que en su obra no escrita se mantendrá en el futuro. Así, este trabajo cumple una labor prospectiva en relación al profesor Singer y aplicativa en relación a Mauricio Beuchot al signar una función práctica (...) a su hermenéutica analógica. (shrink)