[PDF] Debating Euthanasia eBook

Author : Emily Jackson
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 11,51 MB
Release : 2011-12-02
Category : Law
ISBN : 1847317715

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In this new addition to the 'Debating Law' series, Emily Jackson and John Keown re-examine the legal and ethical aspects of the euthanasia debate. Emily Jackson argues that we owe it to everyone in society to do all that we can to ensure that they experience a 'good death'. For a small minority of patients who experience intolerable and unrelievable suffering, this may mean helping them to have an assisted death. In a liberal society, where people's moral views differ, we should not force individuals to experience deaths they find intolerable. This is not an argument in favour of dying. On the contrary, Jackson argues that legalisation could extend and enhance the lives of people whose present fear of the dying process causes them overwhelming distress. John Keown argues that voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are gravely unethical and he defends their continued prohibition by law. He analyses the main arguments for relaxation of the law - including those which invoke the experience of jurisdictions which permit these practices - and finds them wanting. Relaxing the law would, he concludes, be both wrong in principle and dangerous in practice, not least for the dying, the disabled and the disadvantaged.

Author : Jonathan Moreno
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 260 pages
File Size : 48,85 MB
Release : 1995-10
Category : Law
ISBN : 0684807602

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The proliferation of life-prolonging technology in recent years has made the controversy over the "right to die" and physician-assisted suicide one of the most explosive medical and ethical issues of our day. Dr. Jack Kevorkian's "suicide machine" has commanded front-page coverage for several years, while in 1994 Oregon passed a measure allowing the terminally ill to obtain lethal prescriptions for suicide, and other states have placed similar proposals on their ballots.

Author : Demetra M. Pappas
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 209 pages
File Size : 13,84 MB
Release : 2012-09-20
Category : Science
ISBN : 0313341885

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This revealing volume explores recent historical perspectives on the modern euthanasia and assisted-suicide debate and the political arenas in which it has unfolded. Emotional public responses to widely publicized right-to-die and euthanasia cases, such as those revolving around Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Terri Schiavo, highlight their volatile mix of medical, ethical, religious, legal, and public policy issues. The Euthanasia/Assisted-Suicide Debate explores how this debate has evolved over the past 100 years as judicial approaches, legislative responses, and prosecutorial practices have shifted as a result of changes in medical technology and consumer sophistication. Emphasizing the period from the 1950s forward, the book offers an unbiased examination of the origins of the modern medical euthanasia and assisted-suicide debates, the involvement of physicians, the history and significance of medical technology and practice, and the role of patients and their families in the ongoing controversy. This illuminating exploration of concepts, issues, and players will help readers understand both sides of the debate as viewed by participants.

Author : David C. Thomasma
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 573 pages
File Size : 25,59 MB
Release : 2008-04-08
Category : Medical
ISBN : 0306468638

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claim was that he had faced a conflict of duties pitting his legal duty not to kill against his duty as a physician to relieve his patient’s unbearable suffering. He was acquitted on the important grounds of conflict of duty. These grounds are based on a concept in Dutch law called "force majeure" 4 which recognizes extenuating circumstances such as conflicts of duty. The acquittal was upheld by the Lower Court of Alkmaar, but revoked by an Amsterdam court of appeal. The case went on to the Supreme Court, but before the Supreme Court's decision was issued, the Royal Dutch Medical Association (RDMA) attempted to clarify the criteria for euthanasia that many within the profession already accepted. The RDMA proposed that physicians be permitted to perform euthanasia provided that a set of procedures had been met. Variously stated, the guidelines contain the following central provisions: Voluntary, competent, explicit, and persistent requests on the part of the • patient; Requests based on full information; • The patient is in a situation of intolerable and hopeless suffering (either • physical or mental); No further acceptable alternatives to euthanasia. All alternatives • acceptable to the patient for relief of suffering having been tried; Consultation with at least one other physician whose judgment can be • 5 expected to be independent. Indirectly, these guidelines became the criteria prosecutors used to decide whether or not to bring charges.

Author : Patrick Kimuyu
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
Page : 12 pages
File Size : 46,72 MB
Release : 2018-02-07
Category : Medical
ISBN : 3668631948

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Polemic Paper from the year 2017 in the subject Medicine - Medical Frontiers and Special Areas, grade: 1, Egerton University, language: English, abstract: Euthanasia is seemingly raising numerous agonizing ethical dilemmas. Therefore, this research paper will critically analyze the ethical aspects of euthanasia. Euthanasia refers to the termination of a terminally ill patient’s life. It is executed at an individual’s consent especially when someone is suffering from an incurable health condition. In addition, the decision to terminate a patient’s life can also be made by the patient’s relatives, the court of law or medical practitioners. However, it is worth noting that the decision by the relatives, the court or the medics is only reached at if the patient is critically ill, such that he or she cannot think or reason. Euthanasia is commonly known as mercy killing or assisted suicide because all the suicide procedures are designed in such a way that, the patient’s dignity is not degraded or compromised. The Greeks termed it as euthanatos which simply meant easy death. Some individuals who are not terminally ill can sign consent for their lives to be terminated through euthanasia because of ethical reasons especially with matters related to human dignity, but this happens on rare occasions. However, euthanasia has aroused unprecedented debate in the society because it involves several considerations; the most significant one’s being practical, religious and ethical issues. Moreover, this practice seems to be somehow challenging to the health professionals, since it is not in alignment with the medical ethics nor legal framework. Euthanasia is illegal in the United Kingdom: thus, it is considered illegal. Therefore, approaches towards euthanasia require caution, since it can lead to legal repercusions. For instance, voluntary euthanasia is considered as a crime in the United Kingdom, which is punishable by law. Any individual who deliberately executes euthanasia is subjected to serve a jail term.

Author : Miriam Cosic
Publisher : New Holland Australia(AU)
Page : 302 pages
File Size : 29,98 MB
Release : 2003
Category : Philosophy
ISBN :

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Focuses on the arguments, for and against euthanasia, and the philosophical, political and cross-cultural contexts of this age-old dilemma. Included are case studies of patients and their families who are faced with these harrowing decisions at the end of life, as well as the opinions of the professionals who deal with human suffering daily.

Author : John Keown
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 39,7 MB
Release : 2002-04-25
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780521009331

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Whether the law should permit voluntary euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide is one of the most vital questions facing all modern societies. Internationally, the main obstacle to legalisation has proved to be the objection that, even if they were morally acceptable in certain 'hard cases', voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide could not be effectively controlled; society would slide down a 'slippery slope' to the killing of patients who did not make a free and informed request, or for whom palliative care would have offered an alternative. How cogent is this objection? This book provides the general reader (who need have no expertise in philosophy, law or medicine) with a lucid introduction to this central question in the debate, not least by reviewing the Dutch euthanasia experience. It will interest all in any country whether currently for or against legalisation, who wish to ensure that their opinions are better informed.

Author : Margaret A. Somerville
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Page : 455 pages
File Size : 28,39 MB
Release : 2001
Category : Law
ISBN : 0773522018

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"Argues that people who promote the legalization of euthanasia ignore the vast ethical, legal and social differences between euthanasia and natural death. Permitting euthanasia, Somerville demonstrates, would cause irreparable harm to respect for human life and society." --Cover.

Author : Neil M. Gorsuch
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 16,21 MB
Release : 2009-03-23
Category : Law
ISBN : 1400830346

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From U.S. Supreme Court Justice and bestselling author Neil Gorsuch, an argument against the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia provides the most thorough overview of the ethical and legal issues raised by assisted suicide and euthanasia—as well as the most comprehensive argument against their legalization—ever published. In clear terms accessible to the general reader, Neil Gorsuch thoroughly assesses the strengths and weaknesses of leading contemporary ethical arguments for assisted suicide and euthanasia. He explores evidence and case histories from the Netherlands and Oregon, where the practices have been legalized. He analyzes libertarian and autonomy-based arguments for legalization as well as the impact of key U.S. Supreme Court decisions on the debate. And he examines the history and evolution of laws and attitudes regarding assisted suicide and euthanasia in American society. After assessing the strengths and weaknesses of arguments for assisted suicide and euthanasia, Gorsuch builds a nuanced, novel, and powerful moral and legal argument against legalization, one based on a principle that, surprisingly, has largely been overlooked in the debate—the idea that human life is intrinsically valuable and that intentional killing is always wrong. At the same time, the argument Gorsuch develops leaves wide latitude for individual patient autonomy and the refusal of unwanted medical treatment and life-sustaining care, permitting intervention only in cases where an intention to kill is present. Those on both sides of the assisted suicide question will find Gorsuch's analysis to be a thoughtful and stimulating contribution to the debate about one of the most controversial public policy issues of our day.