血液流盡将人杀死与让人死亡之间的界线还能维持多久呢？
How long can the distinction between killing and letting die hold out?
正如因未履行某种职责受到处罚一样，人也可能因干了某事而不受责难。
Just as there can be culpable omissions, so too can there be blameless acts.
让我们从道德伦理著作中举例说明。假定一个人会从某个孩子的死亡中获益，当这个孩子在浴缸中撞伤头部而失去知觉时，那个人视而不见，任其溺水身亡。
Suppose – to take an example from the moral philosophy books – that a man stands to gain from the death of a certain child. The child strikes his head in the bath and falls unconscious. The man sits down and watches him drown.
虽然这个人什么都没有做，但他并不能因此开脱罪责。
The fact that the man has performed no action does not excuse him.
同样，再假设为了缩短而不是延长死亡到来的时间，医生终止某种治疗是无可指责的做法，那么如果这位医生使用足够的镇痛剂致使病人死亡，他就一定大错特错吗？
Similarly, suppose that a doctor does no wrong by withholding some treatment in order that death should come sooner rather than later. Is he then necessarily wrong if he administers enough painkillers to kill?
这位医生采取了某种行动，而不是未尽某种职责，这会使他有罪吗？
