Response to Kuhse

Abstract

In this short paper, we respond to critics of our original paper, The agony of agonal respiration: is the last gasp necessary?. A common thread in both Hawryluckâ s and Kuhseâ s responses is the difficulties encountered when using the agentâ s intentions to make moral distinctions between using neuromuscular blocking drugs to palliate versus using neuromuscular blocking drugs to kill. Although this difficulty does exist we maintain that the intentions of the physician must matter when providing end-of-life care. Originally published Journal of Medical Ethics, Vol. 28, No. 4, Aug. 2002