Right to Die

aliens?”
    “No. I mean, yes, the government shouldn’t use torture on anyone.”
    “On anyone. Mr. Zimmer, agree or disagree.”
    “Uh, I agree.”
    “Because you hold human life of any citizenship sacred,
    correct?”
    “Correct.”
    “Ms. Queenan?”
    “Right. I mean, I agree with that.”
    “Is that a pretty basic principle for you, Ms. Queenan?”
    “Basic?”
    “Yes, basic. Bedrock belief. The sanctity of human life above all else.”
    “Well, yes, I guess so.”
    “You guess so.”
    “I mean, yes. Definitely.”
    “Definitely. Mr. Zimmer, definitely for you also?”
    “Yes.”
    “Very well, then. Mr. Zimmer, a deranged man has kidnapped a four-year-old girl from outside a day care center. He has placed her in a homemade coffin, with only a limited air supply. By great luck, someone saw the man near the center, and the police have arrested him. There is no doubt the man in custody is the kidnapper. He even boasts that the girl has only three hours of air remaining. You are the highest-ranking police officer available, Mr. Zimmer. Do you authorize torture to extract from the man the location of the girl in the coffin?”
    Zimmer looked at Queenan, but she was staring at her notebook as though it were the Holy Grail.
    “Mr. Zimmer, yes or no?”
    “No. I’d have my cops search his house and all first.”
    “Excellent idea, Mr. Zimmer. Ms. Queenan, same hypothetical, only now you are the police commander and the search has come up empty. Any other suggestions, or is it torture?”
    “No.” Queenan seemed to spark a little, even copying the rhythm of Andrus’s speech pattern. “No, it’s never torture.”
    “Never.”
    “That’s right.”
    “You’d never break your rule of no torture.”
    “That’s right.”
    “And why is that, again?”
    “Because human life is sacred.”
    “All human life.”
    “Yes.”
    “Including the little girl’s?”
    Queenan pondered that.
    “Ms. Queenan?”
    Zimmer spoke. “That’s not fair.”
    Andrus turned on him, but more excited than angry. “What’s not fair, Mr. Zimmer?”
    “You’re putting her in an impossible position.”
    “Am I?”
    “Yes. You’re asking her to sacrifice her principle.”
    “No, I’m not. I’ve been asking Ms. Queenan, and you, if you agree with a given rule of society, and then I’ve been asking you about the ethic you have that drives that rule, that justifies it. Both of you seem to think that the no-torture rule makes sense, and both apparently for the same ethical reason, the sanctity of human life. Now I’m just asking Ms. Queenan a simple question. Ms. Queenan, how about it? Is the kidnapper’s life more important than the little girl’s?”
    “No. I mean, they’re equally important.”
    “Equally,” said Andrus. “Let me get this straight. No doubt that the girl will die from lack of air if the police don’t find her.”
    “All right.”
    “And no doubt that the police have the right man. Both an eyewitness and his own confirming confession.”
    “Yes.”
    “But still no torture?”
    Queenan looked around the room. For the last few minutes every head had moved to each player in turn, like a tennis audience at match point.
    Queenan said, “If I use torture, I save this girl, but I open up a lot of people to torture in the future.”
    “So you let the girl die.”
    “I have to. I mean, otherwise I break this rule and everybody might get tortured.” “Mr. Zimmer. Do you let the girl die?”
    Zimmer took a very deep breath. “No.”
    “No?”
    “No. I torture the guy to save her.”
    “You do? Why?”
    “Because she’s more innocent than he is. Also, if I torture him, maybe nobody dies. If I don’t, we know she’ll die.”
    “Ms. Queenan, does Mr. Zimmer’s new logic persuade you?”
    “No. I mean, no, it’s not new logic. Now he’s sacrificing his principle.”
    “Sacrificing his principle. Mr. Zimmer, are you doing that?”
    “No. If the principle behind the rule is to have the government protect human life, then torturing him advances that principle.”
    “How, Mr. Zimmer?”
    “Torturing the kidnapper saves her life without killing him.”
    Andrus said, “Ms. Queenan, if you don’t save the girl by torture, haven’t you let your rule control the reason or ethic behind the rule instead of the other way around, instead of the ethic or reason controlling the rule?” Queenan shook her head. “I don’t know.”
    “Not acceptable, Ms. Queenan. That answer is not