Abstract
Michael Tooley has argued that the only beings, who have a right to life, are those who can conceive of themselves as distinct entities existing over time, in other words, "person". Tristram Engelhardt distinguishes "a person in the social sense" from "a person in the strict sense" as moral agent. He assigns "a social sense of person" to certain severely damaged humans, who cannot interact in even minimal social roles. What is "a social role" with regard to a terminal-stage patient? A patient in a persistent vegetative state and a brain-dead patient are not treated as "a person in the social sense" by T. Engelhardt. I discuss terminal-stage patients from the viewpoint of their families' experiences. This viewpoint may considers the patient's body, in a sense, as the expression of the patient's intention. Such a comprehension of the patient's body should be taken into account by medical staff.
