Delicate Organ Transplantation, Euthanasia and the Correct Application of the Principle of Double Effect

As biomedical technology and skills get advanced, new ethical questions keep on arising. Currently, medical technology and skills may be utilized to transplant delicate organs like the heart, but the question is; where do we get the hearts for transplantation if not from live bodies? Besides, is such a practice ethical? In some circumstances, it may seem plausible for a physician to intentionally terminate life of a patient whose death is imminent and yet the patient is suffering incurably; but would such an action be ethically permissible? And if such practices would be legalized, could it be a lee way for some patients to be killed on the basis of quality of their life in order to legitimately harvest delicate organs like the heart from them? This paper illuminates concrete situations in biomedical practice and evaluates them in the light of practical application of the principle of double effect in relation to euthanasia and organ transplantation.