James Rachels, 62; Ethicist Argued for Use of Euthanasia

James Rachels, 62, a medical ethicist and philosopher whose five books and 85 essays offered moral sanction for passive and active euthanasia, died Friday of cancer in a Birmingham, Ala., hospital.

In 1975, Rachels became the first moral philosopher to win publication in the New England Journal of Medicine with his controversial essay “Active and Passive Euthanasia.” At that time, withdrawing life support -- much less inducing death -- for a terminally ill patient was unthinkable. But he argued that passive euthanasia, by withholding treatment, and active euthanasia, by giving a lethal injection, were equally moral because both prompted a humane death, ending suffering.

“Where a person’s biographical life [which he defined as making decisions and doing other things] is over, or where there is no prospect of a biographical life,” he said, “there is no point to insisting that biological life be preserved.” A vegetarian, he also advocated banning inhumane experiments on animals.

Born in Columbus, Ga., Rachels earned degrees from Mercer University and the University of North Carolina, and taught at Duke and New York universities and the universities of Richmond and Miami before settling in to head the philosophy department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1977.

His textbooks, “The Elements of Moral Philosophy” and “Moral Problems,” have become staples in many college courses.