To Kill Or To Let Die

Not too long ago in a place not too far away, a guy by the name of John was put in a very difficult situation. The train was about to reach his location in about one minute, the problem is, there were 70 people working on the railroad. He had 2 options, he can either not do anything and let most if not all the workers die or he can pull the lever which just happened to be right beside him and thus save those 70 workers. However, by pulling the lever, he would divert the train to another railroad where there were 7 people working on it and will certainly kill them.


The question I have is that should John pull the lever or should he just leave it as it was? To a utilitarian, it is obvious that the right course of action is to pull the lever. Just think about it, you get to save 70 live while only sacrificing 7, isn't that wonderful?! However, is it all just a simple number game? (Those of you who think that you can shout to the workers, let me remind you that this is a thought scenario and in a thought scenario, you are to follow the premises given.)
It is certainly true that when you pull the lever you are trading the lives of 7 for the lives of 70 but at the same time you are also directly taking the lives of 7 people. Now, compare that to if you decide not to do anything. Certainly lives numbering much larger than 7 will have to vanish, but you are not responsible now, are you? Because when you don't pull the lever you are just letting what will happen, happen. You are not making any difference to the consequences of that train rolling over the 70 people, its not your fault, you are just a witness to the tragedy. Saving them will only be something extra, and you'll still have to dirty your hands if you save them anyway as you have to directly cause the death of 7 people.


Hang on, if you actually have the power to change that bloody outcome where 70 people would have to die, shouldn't you do it? And if you don't, doesn't that make you responsible for their deaths, though indirectly?
This thought scenario indeed poses a moral dilemma, to kill or to let to let die. The same thing can apply in practical everyday life too. For example, when a mother-to-be is pregnant with foetus that actually poses a risk to her life (let us just take it that the foetus has some sort of genetic disorder), should or should the mother not abort the prospective offspring? If you are a doctor who is approached by this mother-to-be, what will you do? Will you kill the foetus and hence save the life of that woman? Or would you rather do nothing? And perhaps that will save the foetus from death and yourself from having to dirty your hands. So, what do you think?