Final answer:
Ceasing to provide the individual with food or other necessities to live describes an example of passive euthanasia, where medical interventions or life-sustaining actions are stopped or not initiated, often in accordance with a patient's previously expressed wishes, such as in a DNR order.
Step-by-step explanation:
The passive euthanasia example in the question is a. Ceasing to provide the individual with food or other necessities to live. In passive euthanasia, medical intervention is withheld or withdrawn with the expectation that the patient will die sooner than with continued treatment. Passive euthanasia involves decisions such as not inititaiting treatment that could extend a person's life, like mechanical ventilation or antibiotics, or discontinuing these treatments if they have already started. Additionally, it might involve not providing life-sustaining necessities, such as food and water, when they are no longer able to be taken by the person normally and would require medical intervention to continue. In contrast, active euthanasia would involve a doctor or another person taking active steps to end a person's life, which usually includes actions such as administering a lethal dose of medication.
This is distinctly different from passive euthanasia, in which life-sustaining treatments or actions are simply stopped or not started. Voluntary passive euthanasia, such as a 'do not resuscitate' (DNR) order or an advanced directive, is legal in certain jurisdictions and is based on the consent of the patient, reflecting their own choices about end-of-life care. This differs from nonvoluntary passive euthanasia where the patient's consent is not obtained because they are unable to consent, often due to being incapacitated or unconscious. While some argue that there is an ethical difference between active and passive euthanasia, philosopher James Rachels challenged this conventional view suggesting that if both result in the termination of life and aim to end suffering, they may be ethically comparable.