Euthanasia and the inescapable responsibility to care for the Other

Abstract

In this thesis I apply the framework of Levinas’ ethics to the practice of euthanasia. Much of the contemporary debate on euthanasia is about the moral justification of it. This thesis does not focus on that, but on the ethical relationship between the doctor and the patient. I concluded that when the patient appeals to the doctor in its destitution, an inescapable responsibility to care for the patient is formed. Even though the doctor cannot actively participate in euthanising the patient, the doctor still has to answer the underlying appeal, which is to care for the patient and ease their suffering. All means, both medical and non-medical, have to be used in order to give substance to this inescapable responsibility.