Euthanasia and abandonment: Non-ideal theory, opportunity costs and financial incentives

Abstract: Recently, in Portugal, there have been several attempts by the parliament to pass a law that decriminalises euthanasia, and only the last one has passed. One of the arguments that have been raised against euthanasia, in the Portuguese context, is that euthanasia and medically assisted suicide consist in a form of abandonment of the patient. This argument has been mostly ignored by the proponents of the law, who consider it to rely on a misconception of what euthanasia is. Although we agree that this argument is insufficient to oppose euthanasia, we think that it alerts us to the dangers of euthanasia and brings some often-ignored necessary conditions for euthanasia being morally acceptable. We contend that opportunity costs and economic incentives are important in determining whether a particular medical decision constitutes abandonment.