La prolongación artificial de la vida y los límites de la actuación médica

Abstract

The progress of medicine and of its auxiliary sciences in the last fifty years has led to an increase in man's average life expectancy and to the aging of the world's population. This same development also entails the danger of manipulation of the human body and of its functions, especially at the very onset of life (generation control), and at its very end (euthanasia). It is to be fea red al so that with the progress of medicine man may beco me used to thinking that death is no longer an inexorable biological fact, but rather the result of a freely-taken decision (positive or negative euthanasia), so that as a consequence of this new line of thinking euthanasia may become legalised in those countries where the concept of the dignity of human life has been lost. At this stage of the manipulation of man -so characteristic of the modern world- it must be remembered that Natural Law and Morality prohibit euthanasia; they do not, on the other hand, make the use of extraordinary means to keep a person alive obligatory. The criterion which doctors have followed until now in the fight for life can and shoul be applied in the case of young patients, especially those who have suffered accidents or trauma while being in the prime of health. But it do es not seem to be mandatory to use extraordinary means in the case of elderly, chronicalIy ill, or incurable patients. In these cases, common sense and the correct application of moral norms indicate that life should not be prolonged artificially, because this is tantamount to prolonging the agony of the dying or the sufferings of those patients who have entered into the final phases of their illnesses. It is therefore convenient to distinguish between three concepts to this effect. 1). Positive euthanasia means the direct causing of the patient's death. 2). Negative euthanasia can be defined as the refraining from use of effective mean s to cure a patient. 3). We are dealing here with a new concept -the artificial prolongation of life- based on the utilization of mean s which are ineffective as far as curing the patient is concerned, but effective in that they will serve to prolong the patient's life a few days or a few weeks. In this last instance, the decisión corresponds to the patient himself. In the event of the patient's being either unconscious or too weak to be able to decide, then the decision rests upon his direct next-of·kin. The doctor has the right solely to operate within the limits prescribed by the patient, and must not employ any moral coercion with the purpose of having extraordinary means applied.