My brother deserves to die. My grandmother should have died sooner than she did. My brother is autistic, cannot speak, and cannot even completely dress himself-he makes no visible contribution to society-therefore he should not be allowed to live. My grandmother had Alzheimer's disease, slipped into a coma after Valentine's Day, and was placed on a feeding tube until she finally passed on two days before my 16th birthday-but she should not have been allowed to waste my family's money and stay in the hospital for weeks. My family should have just let her die and get over with it.

Well, that is what I would think if I were a utilitarian bioethicist. This breed of bioethicists believes in "ethical distribution" of medical resources. They believe that medical resources are limited and certain standards should be created to determine who should receive treatment and who should not. Utilitarian...