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Doctrine of double effect
The doctrine of double effect says an action with a good aim can be acceptable even if it has a harmful side effect that was foreseen but not intended.
Summary
- The usual example is giving a dying patient enough morphine to control their pain, knowing it may also shorten their life.
- The intention has to be the good effect, and the harm must not be the way that effect is achieved.
- The good has to be in proportion to the harm.
- It is the reasoning that separates relieving pain at the end of life from deliberately ending it.
In practice
- In the 1957 trial of Dr Bodkin Adams, the judge held that doctors could take all necessary steps to relieve pain and suffering, even if the measures taken may incidentally shorten life.
- An NHS trust's clinical law update says the core requirement of the doctrine is the absence of an intention to kill. Death must also not be foreseen as virtually certain.
Interview questions
- What is the doctrine of double effect?
- Is there a moral difference between relieving pain and hastening death?
- How could anyone know what a doctor intended?
Sources
- University Hospital Southamptonuhs.nhs.uk/…/doctrine-of-double-effect
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