Peter Singer on Life and Death Decision-Making (originally on Bioethics Bites)

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• 00:04

  This is bioethics bytes with me, David.

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  Edmonds and me, Nigel Warburton.

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  Bioethics Bytes is made in association with Oxford's Uhiro Centre for Practical Ethics and made possible by grant from the Wellcome Trust.

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• 00:19

  Dot practicalethics, dot ox, dot ac dot Uk or to iTunesu.

• 00:26

  If a patient decides she doesn't want to live any longer, should she be allowed to die?

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  Should she be allowed to kill herself?

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  If a patient is in no condition to decide, perhaps she's in a coma, then should somebody else be able to decide for her whether or not she continues to exist?

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  Who should take on that role?

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  Is there a moral difference between killing and allowing someone to die?

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  And is the role of the doctor always to prolong life?

• 00:50

  Peter Singer at Princeton University is one of the world's leading bioethicists.

• 00:56

  Peter Singer, welcome to Bioethics Bites.

• 00:58

  Thanks, Nigel.

• 00:59

  It's good to be with you.

• 01:00

  We're going to focus on questions about life and death decision making.

• 01:04

  You're famous as a utilitarian.

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  How do you approach the issue of deciding in medical cases whether someone should live or die?

• 01:15

  I think to answer that question, you need to distinguish different cases.

• 01:19

  Although I am a utilitarian, I think that generally we bring about better consequences if we allow competent adults to make their own choices on matters that primarily concern themselves.

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