Assisted Dying Reflections on the Need for Law Reform

Author: Sheila McLean
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9781844720545
Published In: November 2007
Format: Paperback , 224 pages
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Assisted Dying explores the law relating to euthanasia and assisted suicide, tracing its development from prohibition through to the laissez faire attitude adopted in a number of countries in the 21^st Century. This book provides an in-depth critique of the arguments surrounding legislative control of such practices and particularly looks into the regulatory role of the state. In the classical tradition of libertarianism, the state is generally presumed to have a remit to intervene where an individual’s actions threaten another, rather than harm the individuals themselves. This arguably leaves a question mark over the state’s determined intervention, in the UK and elsewhere, into the private and highly personal choices of individuals to die rather than live. The perceived role of the state in safeguarding the moral values of the community and the need for third party involvement in assisted suicide and euthanasia could be thought to raise these practices to a different level. These considerations may be in direct conflict with the so called right to die espoused by some individuals and groups within the community. However this book will argue that the state’s interests are and should be second to the interests that the people themselves have in choosing their own death.

1. An Outline of the Debate 2. An Evaluation of the Arguments For and Against Legalisation 3. Choosing Death 4. Choosing Death For Others 5. The United Kingdom Position 6. Is there a way forward? 7. Conclusion

Sheila Mclean is International Bar Association Professor of Law Ethics in Medicine at Glasgow University and Director of the Institute of Law Ethics in Medicine.

"In this excellent and well-reasoned text, Sheila Mclean outlines the debate about whether or not assisted dying should be legalized in the UK." - Hazel Biggs, Lancaster University, UK, Mortality, Volume 14, Issue 1, 2009