SIXTEEN 16. John: The Transplant Doctor on a Mission. John has five patients who need organ transplants. How John became a transplant doctor, I do not know. Two of John's patients are in immediate need of a lung; two need a kidney; the fifth needs a heart. Alice walks into John's office for her annual check-up. John kills Alice, gives her lungs to the first two patients, her kidneys to the other two, and her heart to the fifth, thus saving five lives for the price of one. Would you defend John on grounds of necessity?   Commentary

COMMENTARY Commentary. Recall the latter half of the Model Penal Code's "definition" of "necessity": ". . . the harm or evil sought to be avoided by such conduct is greater than that sought to be prevented . . ." Here John saves five lives for the "price" of one. Is he not justified on grounds of necessity? Why not? If not, what's missing from the Model Penal Code's "definition" of "necessity?" What's the difference between the last puzzler and this one? In both instances five lives were saved for the "price" of one. Can you come up with language that captures the difference between this puzzler and the last; language that might then be incorporated into a "definition" of "necessity" so that this puzzler is no longer caught in the webbing of its net? These hypothetical cases, the strange case of the Speluncean Explorers and a bizarre case of murder in the Amazon as well as a number of real cases involving murder on the high seas and cannibalism will be explored in greater depth early on in the course.   Back to top

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