ABSTRACT
In Chapter 3, I argued that Aquinas’s metaphysical understanding of human nature entails that a human being’s death occurs when they suffer the irreversible cessation of whole-brain functioning. This conclusion, along with Aquinas’s view of the inherent goodness of human life, has clear implications for how we should treat patients in a “persistent vegetative state” (PVS). Furthermore,Aquinas’s natural law ethic requires that we treat not only PVS patients, but any terminally ill or dying persons, in a fashion that safeguards their life while avoiding undue prolongation of their pain and suffering. In this chapter, I will first address the metaphysical and moral status of PVS patients and then follow with an ethical assessment of various means by which we may strive to alleviate the pain and suffering experienced by the terminally ill or dying. Such means include active euthanasia, palliative treatment that may hasten death, the nonutilization of life-sustaining treatment, and terminal sedation. Finally, I will discuss the practice of organ donation, which involves, among other issues, the question of how and when a patient should be declared dead.
