The “principle of double effect” is a vital tool for moral decision making and is
applicable to all areas of medical practice, including (for example) end-of-life care,
transplant medicine, and cases of conscientious objection. Both our ultimate and
our more immediate intentions are relevant in making and evaluating choices—
though side effects must be kept proportionate and can be morally conclusive when
linked with some intentions. Intentions help to form the character of doctors, and of
human beings generally. While hypocrisy is certainly possible in regard to this form
(and other forms) of moral reasoning, double effect reasoning, sincerely practised,
remains indispensable in identifying moral problems and solutions
