This lecture will present arguments against three beliefs that often influence life and death decisions in medicine:
i. Equal value of human life: All human life is of equal value and all humans have an equal right to life
ii. Brain death: A human being is dead when either the heart has stopped beating, and blood has ceased to circulate, or when all functions of the brain have irreversibly ceased.
iii. It is always wrong for a doctor intentionally to take a human life.
In the lecture, reasons and specific examples will be given to show that none of these three beliefs is sound.
