... overcome that sort of silent, cruel selection by which the weakest are unjustly eliminated."2 Indeed, the Hippocratic Oath swears that "I will neither prescribe nor administer a lethal dose of medicine to any patient even if asked nor counsel any such thing nor perform the utmost respect for every human life from fertilization to natural death"3. This stance will be challenged in the body of the essay. Double Effect Historically, double effect is closely associated with the Roman Catholic Church and Thomas Aquinas. The doctrine itself may originate in a letter of Saint Paul although it is widely believed that the principle of double effect originated with Thomas Aquinas' discussion of the permissibility of self-defense in the Summa Theologica4. Aquinas observed that "Nothing hinders one act from having two effects, only one of which is intended, while the other is beside the intention"5. The rule of double effect is a conceptually and ...

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