My updated plan for my paper is to write about Kant's thoughts on euthanasia only (instead of euthanasia and end-of-life care for older people in general). The main purpose of the essay two fold: to argue how Kant would have fought against euthanasia based off of his categorical imperative and to then identify flaws in Kant's philosophy that has led him (according to my analysis of his works) to believe why euthanasia is morally wrong. After establishing this purpose in the beginning of my essay, I plan to outline the basics of euthanasia, as well as Kant's categorical imperative, and then use quotes from Kant's "Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals" to argue for why Kant would have believed that euthanasia is morally wrong. Most of the quotes I have found relate to Kant's thoughts on autonomy, which is perfect for the topic of euthanasia as the debate around this topic centers around a patient's autonomy. After this, I will point out the flaws in Kant's categorical imperative that has led to this conclusion. Namely, that it places too much focus on rationality and ignores the importance of consequences of actions in moral decision making. It's lack of ability to account for complex situations, such as determining the outcome of someone's life, makes it invalid to use as a measure of moral correctness for euthanasia. I will then talk about how Atul Gawande would have disagreed with Kant's categorical imperative, as his book, "Being Mortal," is one about the importance of compassionate care and patient autonomy. Further, one of my exhibits I plan to include is about a patient I helped care for at Beth Israel Hospital. Long story short, this patient had a serious eating disorder and her health declined so much that she had to be hospitalized. For three months, she was in the hospital trying to recover but struggled. Shortly before she was discharged, she asked the doctors if they could help her carry out physician assisted suicide because she believed she just couldn't recover and no longer wanted to try. What would have Kant and Atul Gawande told the physicians taking care of her? What would they have thought was the morally correct thing to do here?
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