title: Why let people die?
abstract: This paper concerns those patients whose brain is irreversibly damaged to the point where they will never recover significant mental life. I examine the reasons which justify the decision to withhold or discontinue active medical intervention in these patients. They involve the identity, quality of life and agency of those beings whom we value as persons.
mesh_terms: D001926:Brain Death; D001927:Brain Diseases; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005065:Euthanasia / Q000523:psychology*; D005066:Euthanasia, Passive / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D028681:Moral Obligations; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D028723:Personhood; D006113:United Kingdom; D028761:Withholding Treatment