Is it morally wrong to kill someone while they are asleep?

[Armoured]

http://existentialcomics.com/comic/1

 

[variant]

I know a guy who was in a coma for five days after a severe auto accident (in fact, I was having an IM with him just this morning), and his family was having that discussion when he woke up.

So while he was unconscious (but in hindsight his body was obviously working full time to bring him back to consciousness) his "personness" was being decided by other people. So was he really a person or not? What if they'd decided earlier that he was no longer a person and removed his life support on the fourth day?

They would have been wrong.

I'm not sure they were deciding his 'personness' though but rather deciding whether or not to give up on his ability to continue his life.

 

[variant]

The Machine - Existential Comics

I feel like I have had that argument before over star trek transporters.

I actually agree with the man that the transporter would put an end to your conscious existence, because it may very well be non-transferable in that way.

The experience of being you may very well stop when you are disassembled and a copy is put somewhere else with your memories.

 

[RDKirk]

They would have been wrong.

Not according to the law, medical ethics, or even by mainstream morality. If anyone had objected and tried to prevent it, that person would have been considered an extremist in most modern circles.

I'm not sure they were deciding his 'personness' though but rather deciding whether or not to give up on his ability to continue his life.

But "personness" is wholly the point of a medical decision to end a life without the consent of the individual, absent due process of law.

 

[variant]

Not according to the law, medical ethics, or even by mainstream morality. If anyone had objected and tried to prevent it, that person would have been considered an extremist in most modern circles.

Inaccuracy is a type of wrongness that medical ethics can't protect you from. It is harsh and objective whether you discover it or not.

The purpose of the sort of medical ethics you are talking about is to make us capable of deliberating such matters, so we can make rational decisions in such situations since we can not know what would have happened if we had chosen otherwise. The purpose here is to free someone to make a decision with a clear conscience.

In your scenario had they chosen to end his life before he awoke they would have been medically and objectively wrong about abandoning his possibility to survive, but the ethics involved would mean they made a grave error with 'proper' morality.

But "personness" is wholly the point of a medical decision to end a life without the consent of the individual, absent due process of law.

The point is to determine the likelihood of recovering someones life not assess the deep finer points of their present condition.

We value living consciously here, not specifically a discrete idea of personness that a coma patient may or may not posses.