Thompson proposes:
Suppose that you wake up one morning and find yourself n a hospital bed connected by many tubes to another person who is unconscious. The director of the hospital is there and explains to you that the person sharing your bed is a world famous violinist.
The violinist has a kidney disease and requires the use of someone else's' kidneys to extract toxins from his blood.
How did you come to be connected to the violinist? The Society of Music Lovers examined all available medical records and determined that your kidneys are uniquely capable of saving the violinists life. So they kidnapped you and connected you in the appropriate ways to the violinist.
The hospital director says that she never would have allowed this herself, but the Society of Music Lovers people did not it on their own, and then dropped you off at the hospital.
So far as the director is concerned you are free to disconnect yourself from the violinist and go, but if you do so the violinist will die.
You ask, "How long will I have to stay connected to him in order for him to live?"
Suppose the doctor says, "Nine months." Would you then think that it would be wrong to disconnect from the violinist? What if the doctor said nine years? Would it still be wrong to disconnect? What if the doctor says the rest of your life?
At this point, Thompson reasons as follows:
1. If the violinist's right to life always outweighs your right to determine what happens in your body, then it is always immoral to disconnect, no matter how long the violinist needs to use your body.
2. But it is not always immoral to disconnect, for instance if he needs your entire life, or nine years.
3. So the violinist's right to life does not always outweigh your right to determine what happens in your body.
