You are a doctor in a small rural hospital. You have ten patients, each of whom is dying for the lack of a separate organ; that is, one person needs a heart transplant, another needs a lung transplant, another needs a kidney transplant, and so on. A traveller walks into the hospital, mentioning how he has no family and no one knows that he’s there. All of his organs seem healthy. You realize that by killing this traveller and distributing his organs among your patients, you could save ten lives.
I wouldn’t kill him. It isn’t worth the risk for me. I also wouldn’t consider it my job. I’m a doctor, not a super hero. The service doctor’s provide isn’t maximising survival.
Would this be moral or not?
No. And even if it was, I’d violate the moral out of self interest.
I wouldn’t kill him. It isn’t worth the risk for me. I also wouldn’t consider it my job. I’m a doctor, not a super hero. The service doctor’s provide isn’t maximising survival.
No. And even if it was, I’d violate the moral out of self interest.