The Philosophy of Edmund Pellegrino and the bioethical dilemmas related to assisted suicide

Abstract

Despite the growing emphasis given to autonomy on the decision-making process, mere autonomous decision does not always reflect the patient’s welfare. In this article it is sustained from Edmund Pellegrino’s Philosophy of Medicine, that the patient’s welfare is composed of four elements, one delimiting the other, to ensure a balance between welfare as assessed by the doctor and the welfare as understood by the patient. The teleological approach to medicine, i.e., an approach based on telos (end) of medicine, defines the degree to which the patient’s decisions are consistent with his or her own welfare. It follows that the patient’s requests for procedures such as physician-assisted suicide are not in accordance with this end, so, it would be the role of health professionals to make their best to provide alternatives to prevent and relieve the suffering of patients, and in this point it’s inserted the topic of palliative care.