Chapter 7:
Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Death Suicide
Multiple Choice Questions
1) Which of the following characterizes a person in a persistent vegetative state?
a) the cerebral hemispheres are damaged or dysfunctional
b) she/he is able to breathe and excrete on their own
c) her/his eyelids may blink and the eyes may move but only reflexively
d) all of these choices
2) The term “euthanasia” comes from the Greek term for a
a) painless death.
b) good death.
c) unnatural death.
d) immoral death.
3) “Active euthanasia” can be classified as which of the following?
a) a passive act of not taking steps to prolong life
b) withdrawing the feeding tube of a person in a persistent vegetative state
c) a deliberate act via a definite action that results in killing someone (including oneself)
d) all of these choices
4) “Passive euthanasia” can be classified as which of the following?
a) a passive act of not taking steps to prolong life
b) a deliberate act via a definite action that results in killing someone (including oneself)
c) injecting a patient with a lethal overdose of narcotics to end his/her suffering
d) all of these choices
5) Which of the following terms refers to cases in which a person requests that her life be
ended, either directly or by refusing treatment?
a) involuntary euthanasia
b) voluntary euthanasia
c) nonvoluntary euthanasia
d) advance directive
6) Which of the following terms refers to cases in which someone ends the life of another
contrary to that person’s wish (i.e., the individual not only fails to give consent but
expresses the desire not to be killed)?
a) involuntary euthanasia
b) voluntary euthanasia
c) nonvoluntary euthanasia
d) advance directive
7) Which of the following terms refers to cases in which the decision about death is not made
by the person who is to die because she/he has failed to give consent or instructions and the
decision is then left to family, friends, or physicians?
a) involuntary euthanasia
b) nonvoluntary euthanasia
c) voluntary euthanasia
d) advance directive
8) Death is defined as the permanent cessation of breathing and heart beat under which of the
following notions of “death”?
a) traditional
b) whole-brain
c) higher-brain
d) personhood
9) Death is defined as the irreversible cessation of all brain functions under which of the
following notions of “death”?
a) higher-brain
b) traditional
c) whole-brain
d) personhood
10) Death is defined as the permanent loss of consciousness under which of the following
notions of “death”?
a) higher-brain
b) whole-brain
c) traditional
d) personhood
11) Death is defined as the point when an individual ceases to be a person under which of the
following notions of “death”?
a) whole-brain
b) traditional
c) higher-brain
d) personhood
12) Living wills
a) only apply to patients with terminal illnesses.
b) only apply to patients who are permanently unconscious.
c) only apply to patients with terminal illnesses, or who are unconscious.
d) only apply to patients who have identified proxy decision-makers.
13) The principle of double effect makes it morally acceptable to
a) euthanize patients who request it, provided that the procedure is done with the consent of
two physicians.
b) euthanize patients who request it, provided that the procedure is handled by two
physicians, each of whom administers a less than lethal dose of medication.
c) give medication to relieve pain, even if this could be foreseen to lead to death.
d) give medication to relieve pain with the double intent of causing death.
14) Rachels argues that
a) killing and letting die are morally distinct.
b) killing is always morally worse than letting die.
c) letting die is always morally worse than killing.
d) the moral significance of the distinction between killing and letting die should be
challenged.
15) What makes it wrong, according to Singer, to kill any being?
a) Killing ends the possibility that the being can experience whatever further good life
holds.
b) Killing evinces a lack of respect for the being’s autonomy.
c) Killing is against the Biblical injunction not to kill.
d) Killing violates the Hippocratic Oath.
True/False Questions
1) In the 1970s and 1980s there were four basic views of what it is to be dead.
2) A persistent vegetative state is synonymous with brain death.
3) Active euthanasia is sometimes referred to as an act of omission.
4) Passive euthanasia is sometimes referred to as an act of commission.
5) One advantage of the durable power of attorney over the living will is that the durable power
of attorney allows a surrogate to exercise control over novel and unanticipated situations.
6) On the Roman Catholic view there is a moral obligation to continue treatment when a person
is medically hopeless.
7) The oldest form of advance directive is a living will.
8) Well-being and health are the same concept.
9) A utilitarian will always support the view that euthanasia is morally acceptable.
10) Ross holds that we always have a strong prima facie duty not to kill any sentient being.
11) Rachels believes that passive euthanasia is morally preferable to active euthanasia.
12) James Rachels believes that when a patient is allowed to die (at the patient’s request), it is the
patient’s disease that causes the death not the doctor who takes the patient off life support.
13) James Rachels supports the opinion that there is a significant moral difference between active
and passive euthanasia.
14) J. Gay-Williams argues that there are no good moral arguments for not allowing patient-
requested euthanasia.
15) Peter Singer believes that the utilitarian case for voluntary euthanasia is exceedingly weak.