Assisted Suicide Case Study Essay

Should we let die, or let live and suffer is a moral dilemma that arises when it comes to the case of Jahi McMath. Jahi McMath is a thirteen-year-old female who was declared dead by doctors after having a tonsillectomy in an Oakland hospital in California in 2014. After what was supposed to be one of three routine surgeries for sleep apnea, Jahi suffered post-surgical complications after a tonsillectomy which left her brain dead, and on mechanical life support. Doctors at the hospital determined that Jahi’s cerebral cortex had stopped functioning, and that her brain stem was destroyed after she endured her complications, and in their opinion, she should be left to die. In the 1980, Uniform determination of Death Act, death is defined as “the irreversible cessation of all …show more content…
In the case of Jahi’s parents who I believed were faced with a morally and ethically dilemma, to let die or to let live and suffer reminded me of Grisez and Boyle who believed that biological life should be sustained even if it means by sustaining life though mechanical ventilation. Grisez and Boyle argues that killing in every sense is morally wrong. They define killing as “the contrary to the good of life,” and go on to say that “every act which is the act of killing in the sense is immoral,” ( Grisez and Boyle, 244.) Grizes and Boyle later go on to say that “if one commits oneself to killing of a person, one constitutes oneself a murderer.” (p. 244). From Grisez and Boyle’s perspective, you can see why the parents of Jahi would have a hard time ending the use of life sustaining measures for their daughter. Not only because they believe that ending the life support that their daughter is on, is killing their daughter, but that they would ultimately be murderers if they “kill” their daughter, by letting her