A recent article published by leading bioethics journal “ The Hastings Center Report ”, has proposed an implant that would automatically trigger a lethal drug at the onset of dementia.
In the report, co-authors Margaret Battin and Brent M. Kious, proposed the introduction of an “advance directive implant” (ADI) in an article titled “Ending One’s Life in Advance”. There is even a precedent for this proposed implant: Norplant, a controversial contraceptive implant that was withdrawn from the UK in 1999. Like Norplant, the ADI would be reversible and programmable, but the drugs it would release would cause death instantaneously. It would likely be implanted at the onset of dementia and programmed to activate according to the patient’s prognosis.
They did however, acknowledge the legal and ethical barriers that such proposals would likely face: “Even if our laws were liberalized dramatically…those laws would remain controversial and would continue to impose great burdens […]
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