JCU bioethics 4: Euthanasia to reduce antibiotic use
Thu, Oct 15, 2026 · Week 8 · Genetics of Disease (Medical Interventions)
Today's goal: Argue an assigned side of this question: Should terminally ill patients be offered medical aid in dying in order to decrease antibiotic use?
This is a model of the work you should turn in today. Use it to check your own: match the structure and the level of detail, do not copy it. Your data and wording should be your own.
Parallel case, not today's prompt: A competent adult with terminal disease is deciding whether to stop an invasive treatment that causes severe side effects and no longer changes the expected outcome.
Claim: The care team should honor an informed refusal after confirming decision-making capacity, explaining comfort-care options, and documenting that the choice is voluntary.
Evidence: The treatment causes repeated hospitalizations and pain, while the clinical record shows no meaningful improvement in function or survival. The patient can explain the likely outcomes of continuing and stopping treatment in their own words.
Reasoning: Respect for autonomy is strongest when a person understands the consequences and the treatment no longer provides a proportional benefit. Capacity checks and comfort care protect the patient from coercion and untreated suffering.
Strongest opposing point and response: Family members may argue that stopping treatment gives up too soon. A time-limited second opinion can test that concern, but forcing a capable adult to continue a nonbeneficial treatment replaces the patient's informed values with someone else's hope.
My position after the debate: I support the claim only with the limits named above. A strong ethics argument states the value being protected, uses evidence rather than preference, answers the best counterargument, and names the condition that could change the decision.
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: A complete debate worksheet that names the assigned side, gives three evidence-based arguments, answers the strongest opposing point, and ends with the student's own position.
- Write one defensible claim.
- Choose specific evidence that supports the claim.
- Explain the scientific rule that connects the evidence to the claim.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Submit one debate worksheet PDF in Schoology before the end of the block.
Turn in: Worked debate worksheet on a parallel case: a competent adult declining a burdensome treatment
Go to Schoology to turn this in.
Submit one PDF. Put your first and last name in the document header. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf.
Open Schoology PDF upload helpIf you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
Claim ceiling: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about today's lesson. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
One exam-style question that uses exactly what you practiced today. Try it before you reveal the answer, then read why each choice is right or wrong.
Tap an answer to see the full explanation. Nothing is recorded or graded.
It builds this reusable test skill: Selecting evidence that directly tests an ethical claim.
- Name the concept or data pattern being tested.
- Cross out choices that violate that rule or the evidence.
- Justify the best remaining choice before checking the answer.