Euthanasia, Anti-Egalitarian Bias, and Breach of the Duty of Medical Care: A Reply to Rivera López.

Abstract

Rivera López offers a coherent defense of three norms: the right to active euthanasia, the right to refuse or withdraw medical treatments, and the prohibition of consensual homicide. These norms appear to come to tension if an autonomy-based justification for euthanasia is adopted. To resolve this tension, Rivera López appeals to a paternalistic argument and to the distinction between the right to autonomy and the right to bodily integrity. In this paper, I argue that the paternalistic argument implies an anti-egalitarian bias about the value of certain lives and that the distinction between the right to autonomy and the right to bodily integrity leads to consequences that are incompatible with the special duty of medical care.