"[P]erhaps the most widely utilised argument by pro-euthanasia advocates is that allowing a patient to die in pain against his or her wishes is undignified. Dworkin turns the notion of dignity on its head by suggesting that even though it is dignity that makes life inherently valuable it is also the reason euthanasia should be permissible. He states that a true appreciation of dignity requires respect for individual freedom and the ability for each to make his or her own moral decisions, because freedom is necessary for self-respect, and therefore it follows euthanasia should be available on request.58 Thus, on the one hand he contends that by virtue of the dignity we all have, life is “intrinsically” valuable. This of its self seems contradictory since something cannot have intrinsic worth if its value is derived from something else. But he then contends that by the very reason of a constituent element of dignity (freedom) it is then permissible to destroy that which is inherently precious.59"
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Dignity
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