We all know the difference between right and wrong. However, these days it is believed that the current state of medical ethics is confused. As Peter Singer author of Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics states, we as a society are experiencing a state of change. During this period, the traditional medical ethic we are all used to is slowly being replaced by a new and more confounded way of thinking. This "confusion" is very apparent when medical policies and the mentalities of health care professionals are analyzed.
Peter Singer poses one such example in his book. He states, "The American Medical Association has a policy that says a doctor can ethically withdraw all means of life-prolonging medical treatment including food and water from a patient in an irreversible coma. Yet the same policy insists that "the physician should not intentionally cause death" (2). In this policy, medical doctors have the permission, under ethical law, to take away anything that can lengthen the life of a patient so long as the patient is in a coma in which he/she may never wake up from. On the other hand, included in that very same policy it declares that medical doctors should not end the life of a patient purposely.
This policy contradicts itself because the first half of it says to do one thing and the other portion bluntly directs the doctor not to do it. That is like telling someone you can steal food if and only if you are desperate for it and there is no other way you can obtain it. Then after you told them that, you say that it is extremely wrong to steal. Not only does this it baffle physicians but this policy's confusion can also affect jury's in .
court cases concerning this topic. Some medical doctors are having trouble coming to terms with their views and opinions on this topic although they abide by this policy anyway. When court cases dealing with this subject arise, jury's have great difficulty deciding which part of the policy to consider.
