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Topic: Principle of double effect

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	The Principle of Double Effect
		The principle of double effect, once largely confined to discussions by Catholic moral theologians, in recent years has figured prominently in the discussion of both ethical theory and applied ethics by a broad range of contemporary philosophers.
		Supporters of the principle argue that, in situations of "double effect" where all these conditions are met, the action under consideration is morally permissible despite the bad result.
		The principle disallows cases, however, in which a craniotomy (the crushing of the fetus's skull) is required to preserve a pregnant woman's life, on the grounds that here a genuine evil, the death of the fetus, is "directly" intended.
	www.saintmarys.edu /~incandel/doubleeffect.html (749 words)

	Doctrine of Double Effect (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
		Later versions of the double effect principle all emphasize the distinction between causing a morally grave harm as a side effect of pursuing a good end and causing a harm as a means of pursuing a good end.
		Double effect might also be part of a secular non-absolutist view according to which a justification adequate for causing a certain harm as a side effect might not be adequate for causing that harm as a means to the same good end under the same circumstances.
		A third common misinterpretation of double effect is to assume that the principle assures agents that they may do this provided that their ultimate aim is a good one that is ordinarily worth pursuing, the proportionality condition is satisfied and the harm is minimized.
	plato.stanford.edu /entries/double-effect (3465 words)

	Double Effect - Principle Of
		The principle of the double effect was developed by the theologians of the 16th and 17th centuries, especially by the Salmanticenses.
		Actually, the principle of the double effect is often used in the ordinary affairs of human life by persons who are unaware of the speculative requirements of this principle but are acting on common sense.
		Nevertheless, through a reasonable application of the principle of the double effect, such association may be permitted, the good effect, which consists in the normal benefits of lawful courtship with a view to marriage in the near future, compensating for the spiritual danger.
	www.trosch.org /phi/dbl-efft.htm (1328 words)

	Double Effect, Double Intention, and Asymmetric Warfare (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		Effects of the action consequent to the achievement of the goals; effects that the actor does not seek to bring about, but which she recognizes to be inevitable or likely byproducts of the action.
		Apparently, the doctrine of double effect is sufficient to satisfy the combatant’s duty because the civilians who are at risk of harm from his actions are enemy civilians, not fellow citizens.
		The principle of discrimination is based on the idea that enemy civilians are protected because they are innocent, in the sense that they are not causally responsible for the threat of harm posed by their nation’s military forces.
	www.usafa.af.mil /jscope/JSCOPE04/Lee04.html (6470 words)

	The Double Effect of Pain Medication
		In bioethics, the principle of double effect (PDE) is used to justify the administration of medication to relieve pain even though it may lead to the unintended, although foreseen, consequence of hastening death by causing respiratory depression.
		Furthermore, using the PDE to justify using opioids to treat pain in dying patients contributes to the belief in the double effect of pain medication, which in turn leads to fear of hastening death and the undertreatment of pain.
		Not only is it not necessary to rely on the PDE to justify giving adequate pain medication to dying patients, but such reliance on the PDE actually perpetuates the myth of the double effect of pain medication, directly contributing to the undertreatment of suffering at the end of life.
	www.cpmission.com /main/double.html (6863 words)

	Catholic Culture : Document Library : Abortion: Correct Application of Natural Law Theory
		The common moral principle often used in these difficult situations is that found in the time-honored theory of natural person1 known as the principle of double effect.
		The principle of double effect as applied to the case of abortion renders abortion procedures morally illicit, since the action by its very nature is evil.
		The proper understanding and application of the principle of double effect offers a commonly accepted, morally legitimate, objectively grounded basis for clarifying the important moral distinctions which need to be made within these very tragic and dificult moral dilemmas — one on which most of us could reasonably agree.
	www.catholicculture.org /docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=3482 (3442 words)

	Medical Ethics Under Siege
		He maintains the principle applies when a patient is given medication with one effect of treating pain and another of causing death.
		Unlike congressional legislation, the clauses in the principle of double effect cannot be severed, i.e., all five conditions must be met fully for the principle to be applied properly.
		Since the good effect of pain relief results from the evil effect of the patient's death, medicating patients until they die cannot be justified by the principle of double effect.
	mysite.verizon.net /cureltd/id18.html (1090 words)

	Common Physical Symptoms - Resources (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		The principle of double effect refers to the ethical construct where a physician uses a treatment, or gives medication, for an ethical intended effect where the potential outcome is good (e.g., relief of a symptom), knowing that there will be an undesired secondary effect (such as death).
		Although this principle of "double effect" is commonly cited in symptom control, in fact, it does not apply, as the secondary adverse consequences are more likely not to occur.
		Concerns that the principle of double effect may be an issue when managing symptoms are raised by the fact that, like other medical treatments, there is a risk that treatments to control symptoms could produce adverse consequences including death, either when improperly used or, very rarely, when properly used.
	endlink.lurie.northwestern.edu /common_physical_symptoms/resources.cfm (1494 words)

	Terminal Sedation
		The principle of double effect is based in Catholic tradition,(90) but it has long figured prominently as a guide to ethical decision-making in secular settings.
		By distorting both the practice of sedating patients and the principle of double effect, assisted suicide advocates are attempting to persuade the public that it is unreasonable to continue to prohibit such deaths.
		This is carried out under the doctrine known as "double effect" by which a physician may lawfully administer increasing dosages of regular analgesic and sedative drugs that can hasten someone’s death as long as the declared intention is to ease pain and suffering.
	www.valdosta.edu /~jmmcgahe/article2.htm (3595 words)

	A Critical Analysis of Elizabeth Anscombe's "War and Murder"
		She assumes (6) that the Principle of Double Effect, of which I will discuss in detail, will not allow evil to be committed as a means to achieving good, (7) that it is evil to kill, and (8) that killing in self-defense is concomitant with the good derived.
		One of the tests of the Principle of Double Effect is that the good and the evil effect which occur as a result of the action must be concomitant.
		If the two effects (thus "Double Effect") are not simultaneous, the action is perceived to have failed this segment of the Principle and thus is to be considered evil -- the evil must not be the means to a good.
	alumnus.caltech.edu /~croft/archives/academic/philos.html (3547 words)

	EPM Resource - The Growing Debate about the Abortifacient Effect of the Birth Control Pill and the Principle of the ...
		By "abortifacient effect," these authors mean that the Pill causes the unnatural and unrecognized death of preborn children sometime between conception and "patient recognized pregnancy" — the time when the woman realizes that she is pregnant, either by signs or symptoms.
		Condition four of the principle of double effect is hotly debated by the proponents and the opponents.
		Some opponents concede the possibility of an abortifacient effect of the Pill (albeit an extremely remote possibility, in their view) and argue that if there is a bad effect or consequence (an abortifacient effect), then there are sufficiently serious moral reasons for prescribing or taking the Pill, and allowing the uncommon bad effect to occur.
	www.epm.org /articles/pilldebate.html (7124 words)

	TCS Daily - Vulgar Fractions and the Double-Effect
		However, applying the principle of double effect, Israel's actions and intentions can be seen to be defensive and reactive and thus not wrong in themselves.
		Furthermore, the bad effects (civilian casualties and disruption of civilian life) are not the means to the good effect (an end to Hezbollah's attacks), and justification for Israel's actions is substantial indeed.
		While the effect of both sides' bombardments is to hurt noncombatants, in one case the effect is unintended and in the other it is intended.
	www.tcsdaily.com /article.aspx?id=071906G (1523 words)

	This is the Statement of Walter R. Hunter, M.D. before the Senate Judiciary Committee
		This legislation clearly and definitely demarcates a line which is essential to the principles and practice of hospice and palliative care: it distinguishes philosophically and practically that there is, indeed, a difference between the aggressive management of symptoms even if death is an unfortunate outcome versus the deliberate and single-minded intention of killing a patient.
		The bad effect (the cessation of breathing) must not be a means to the good effect (ease in breathing.) If the good effect (ease in breathing) were the direct causal result of the bad effect, the agent would intend the bad effect in pursuit of the good effect.
		The risk of side effects of the medicine would be permissible to alleviate the certainty of the discomfort and danger of his uncontrolled respiratory rate of 44.
	www.senate.gov /comm/judiciary/general/oldsite/42520wh.htm (2736 words)

	World Federation of Right to Die Societies: faqs
		The ethical principle of Double Effect is used to justify medical treatment designed to relieve suffering where death is its unintended (though foreseen) consequence.
		This principle is often cited to explain why certain forms of care at the end of life that result in death are morally permissible and others are not.
		The principle of Double Effect comes from "the rule of double effect" developed by Roman Catholic moral theologians in the Middle Ages as a response to situations requiring actions in which it is impossible to avoid all harmful consequences.
	www.worldrtd.net /faqs/tnd/?id=49 (277 words)

	Principle of Double Effect
		An action that is good in itself that has two effects--an intended and otherwise not reasonably attainable good effect, and an unintended yet foreseen evil effect--is licit, provided there is a due proportion between the intended good and the permitted evil.
		The answer is that one need not always abstain from a good action that has foreseen bad effects, depending on certain moral criteria identified in the principle of double effect.
		The direct intention of the agent must be to achieve the beneficial effects and to avoid the foreseen harmful effects as far as possible, that is, one must only indirectly intend the harm;
	www.ascensionhealth.org /ethics/public/key_principles/double_effect.asp (346 words)

	[No title] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		The good effect -- saving the children -- is not accomplished by the death of the driver (and his passenger).
		To apply this principle to the question of abortion, direct abortion -- deliberately killing the unborn child -- is never permitted not even if done to save the life of the mother.
		For example, performing a hysterectomy or giving radiation treatment to a woman with uterine cancer is a legitimate medical treatment, and is permissible even if the woman is pregnant and the treatment would result in the death of her baby.
	geneva.rutgers.edu /src/faq/double-effect.txt (867 words)

	An occasion of sin - economic sanctions against Iraq continues to cause conflict between the United Nations and Saddam ...
		According to the principle of double effect, a moral agent is either culpable or not.
		Anyone who is pro-U.S., for example, and uses the principle of double effect to help clarify the moral status of the Iraq crisis will have a stock in seeing Hussein as the one solely culpable for events, and the U.S. as wholly innocent.
		While intended to help instruct priests to hear confessions and determine penance, the idea of "occasions of sin" helps an analysis of economic sanctions because it overcomes the shortcomings of the principle of double effect: it allows for gradations of culpability, for shared culpability, and therefore is less subject to manipulation.
	www.findarticles.com /p/articles/mi_m1058/is_33_115/ai_53390004 (816 words)

	HCE08b Norms of Christian Decision Making in
		Which is not necessary to form a good conscience when an act is foreseen to have both beneficial and harmful consequences (Principle of Double Effect).
		{ 3 } - The foreseen beneficial effects must not be achieved by means of the foreseen harmful effects and be not achievable without them.
		{ 6 } - The intention of the agent must be to achieve the beneficial effects and to avoid the foreseen harmful effects as far as possible (i.e.
	academic.uofs.edu /faculty/PM363/ME/hce08b01.htm (1355 words)

	USCCB - Pro-Life Activities - Killing the Pain, Not the Patient: Palliative Care vs. Assisted Suicide
		Second, the good effect must not be attained by means of the bad effect—we cannot claim, like Jack Kevorkian, that we may deliberately kill suffering people because once they are dead they can't suffer.
		The principle of double effect does not automatically clarify all questions of intent, and it does not mean that causing death is justified whenever it is not directly intended.
		He had placed his finger on one of the most insidious effects of legalization: Once the "quick and easy" solution of assisted suicide is accepted in a society, doctors lose the incentive to pursue more difficult but life-affirming ways of truly caring for patients close to death.
	www.usccb.org /prolife/programs/rlp/98rlpdoe.shtml (2425 words)

	lifeissues \| Abortion: Correct Application of Natural Law Theory
		2 Properly understood, the principle of double effect evolved in order to address just these types of difficult moral dilemmas - in this case where both of the lives of those affected are innocent, and yet something must be done or will happen which inevitably will endanger one of these two innocent lives.
		But before developing this often used application of the principle of double effect in more detail,it is important to stave off just a few possible objections by clarifying quite briefly some facts about natural law ethical theory - a theory often misunderstood, misinterpreted, or misapplied down through the years.
		The proper understanding and application of the principle of double effect offers a commonly accepted, morally legitimate, objectively grounded basis for clarifying the important moral distinctions which need to be made within these very tragic and dificult moral dilemmas - one on which most of us could reasonably agree.
	www.lifeissues.net /writers/irv/irv_08natlaw.html (3398 words)

	open book: Principle of Double Effect
		The effects of such evolutionary novel mate choices can go well beyond the bewilderment of a wife who stops taking her contraceptive pills and notices her husband's "newly" foul body odor.
		The former, when used for the contraceptive effect, are always immoral; the morality of using the latter, however, is conditioned by the circumstances.
		In principle, this drug is a good thing -- childbearing-aged women should be able to ovulate and become pregnant -- but circumstantially, the health risks may militate against it.
	amywelborn.typepad.com /openbook/2005/05/principle_of_do.html (3471 words)

	O'Rourke - Issues: Federal Courts Approve Physician Assisted Suicide (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals considered the principle of double effect as a basis for its decision, maintaining that this principle enables one "to cause evil in the pursuit of good.
		One effect is desired or intended, and the other is merely tolerated because the desired effect could not be achieved unless the unwanted effect is allowed to occur.
		A dramatic example of double effect occurs when a pregnant woman is found to have a cancerous uterus.
	www.op.org /domcentral/study/kor/96041708.htm (1374 words)

	TCS Daily - Double Trouble
		The principle of double effect is an old doctrine, traceable back at least to St. Thomas Aquinas, which seeks to sort out the moral problems inherent when a proposed action has both good and bad consequences (a so-called "double effect").
		Specifically, the principle distinguishes between an act that deliberately causes harm in order to achieve some desirable outcome and an act that achieves a desirable outcome in a manner by which some harm foreseeably results as a side-effect.
		The principle of double effect simply does not justify the acts necessary for such research to occur.
	www.tcsdaily.com /article.aspx?id=072506D (769 words)

	Some Alumni Authors: Cavanaugh
		In the military instance, the principle is applied to the bombing of a military target that also involves the deaths of innocent non-combatants.
		The principle addresses questions ranging from pain relief of the terminally ill to those circumstances in which one may forgo or remove medical interventions that postpone death.
		Certainly, the principle he examines bears upon important social issues such as the debate over physician-assisted suicide—where clear, ethical thinking is called for, yet seldom found.
	www.thomasaquinas.edu /news/newsletter/2005/fall/cavanaugh.html (621 words)

	PCCEF - Articles (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		Since 1992, ten states have passed new laws against assisted suicide incorporating "principle of double effect" language (affirming doctors' authority to use large doses of pain medication when their intent is to control pain, not to intentionally end the patient's life).
		"double effect" language, there was generally still improvement but to a lesser extent (average of 3% increase in morphine use).
		These figures should lay to rest the canard that government policies against misusing powerful drugs for assisted suicide have a "chilling effect" on the legitimate use of these drugs for pain control.
	www.pccef.org /articles/art19.htm (575 words)

	http://www.qando.net/ - Just War: The principle of Double Effect
		As Walzer points out, the principle of double effect is a "way of reconciling the absolute prohibition against attacking non-combatants with the legitimate conduct of military activity".
		By the principle of double effect, he would be morally justified in using 1,000 lb bomb because ""the evil effect [killing civilians] is not one of his ends, or is it a means to his ends".
		The double standard, the lack of context, a priori deontological moral rules, and superficial perfunctory criticism of the goals and methods of the enemy â¦ all suggest there is a purposeful propaganda effort accompanied by those willing to be duped.
	www.qando.net /details.aspx?Entry=4356 (9378 words)

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