Exercise 2.5.5

PHI332 : The Class : Argument ID : Premise Conclusion : Exercise 2.5.5

Exercise 2.5.5

Diagram the following passage. If you get stuck, see 2.4.3 exercise 3.

For some incompetent patients it might be impossible to be clearly satisfied as to the patient's intent either to accept or reject the life-sustaining treatment, because many people may have spoken of their desires in general or casual terms, or indeed, never considered or resolved the issue at all. In such cases, a surrogate decision-maker cannot presume that treatment decisions made by a third party on the patient's behalf will further the patient's right to self-determination, since effectuating another person's right to self-determination presupposes that the substitute decision-maker knows what the person would have wanted. Thus, in the absence of adequate proof of the patient's wishes, it is naïve to pretend that the right to self-determination serves as the basis for substituted decision-making (p. 210).

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Once you have completed this excercise you should:

Go on to Exercise 2.5.6
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Go back to Premise Conclusion

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