Medical Law

Easeful Death Is There a Case for Assisted Suicide

Edited by Mary Warnock · Elisabeth Macdonald
Oxford University Press March 2008

Specifications

ISBN-13
9780199539901
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publication
March 2008
Format
Hardback
Jurisdiction
U.K. ? Countri(es) for reference only

Details

Easeful Death sets out in straightforward terms the main arguments both for and against the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia. The legal choices confronting those caring for the terminally ill, and indeed those patients themselves who may be facing intolerable suffering towards the end of their lives, have been the cause of fierce public debate in recent years.

The book takes as its starting point attempts in Britain and other countries to bring compassion into the rules governing the end of a patient's life. Drawing on experience in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the US state of Oregon, where either assisted dying or euthanasia has been legalized, the authors explore the philosophical and ethical views on both sides of the debate, and examine how different legislative proposals would affect different members of society, from the very young to the very old. They describe the practical, medical processes of palliative care, self-denial of food and water, and assisted dying and euthanasia, and ultimately conclude that the public is ready to embrace a more compassionate approach to assisted dying.

This sensitive and authoritative short volume is informed throughout by a strong sense that, whatever the results of the legislative argument, compassion for one another must be both the guide and the restraint upon the way we treat people who are dying or who want to die.

Table of Contents

Contents:
1. Fundamental principles
2. Types of euthanasia
3. Psychiatric assisted suicide
4. Neonates
5. Incompetent adults
6. Human life is sacred
7. The slippery slope
8. Medical views
9. Four methods of easing death and the effect these have on the doctors performing them
10. Looking further ahead
Notes and references
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