by Julian Savulescu

About the author: Julian Savulescu teaches philosophy at the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University in Australia.

Do-gooders do unwanted good. The trouble with do-gooders is that, despite the best intentions, they often fail to do good. . . . Sometimes, do-gooders do some good. Yet the trouble is that this good is not wanted. My object is the dogooder in general. However, my focus will be the medical do-gooder: the doctor who helps a patient out of a sincere desire to do the best for him or her, when the patient does not want help.

One example of doing-good in medicine is the treatment of suicidal patients against their wishes. A patient takes an overdose of tablets, such as paracetamol, and arrives in the emergency department alert. The patient refuses to have a nasogastric tube...