In: Psychology
Jodie and Mary were conjoined twins sharing a single heart and a single pair of lung. Without intervention, both would die within six months. If separated, Jodie would live but Mary would die immediately. The parents refused permission to operate, believing that it would be wrong to hasten Mary’s death. Devout Catholics, they said that “nature should take its course” and “If it’s God’s will that both our children should not survive then so be it.” After a court intervention, the operation was performed over the parents’ objection and as expected, Jodie lived and Mary died.
For the purposes of this discussion, we will assume that Jodie can go on to live a fairly normal life. This is not a case where Jodie’s death would not be a harm to her.
Also, we will be concerned with which course of action would be the right one, and not with who has the right to make the decision. Plausibly, the parents had that right and it was violated by the court. But we can still ask: What decision should the parents have made?
Utilitarians are consequentialists, and consequentialism itself is a hotly debated idea among moral philosophers. The idea that we should always act so as to bring about the best outcome is incredibly attractive, but many have found it to be very objectionable. Kantians, for example, are anti-consequentialists and would argue in this case that it is always wrong to sacrifice the life of one to save the life of another.
This is an ethical delimma as the parents will find it very difficult to chose between botht the girls. As they are told that both girls will die within 6 months but they are devout Christians so they left it on the will of God. However, doctors have a moral obligation that is why they must have taken it to court and the court ordered that the surgery be done soon. Here, the court acted with a utilitarian view when it intervened because it felt that it was making the right decisions for the parents. This is debatable from from the parents view point, they gave birth to the girls and they are their responsibility, therefore they have the right to decide what is best for them. Therefore they took the Kantian approach where it is believed that it is wrong to sacrifice one life to save another.
In situations like these, it is a very tough call to take. If the parents take a utilitarian view, they will alsways feel guilty that they didn't give both girls a chance to live. When they took the Kantian view, they felt maybe there is a chance of survival for both girls.