Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Editors' note for the first edition
- Editors' note for the second edition
- Foreword
- Table of statutes
- Table of cases
- 1 Legal institutions and the legal process
- 2 Human rights and healthcare professionals
- 3 Medical ethics and the forensic physician
- 4 Confidentiality
- 5 Consent to medical treatment
- 6 Professional bodies and discipline
- 7 Complaints in the National Health Service
- 8 The Mental Health Act (England and Wales)
- 9 Death certification and the role of the coroner
- 10 Tissues and organs
- 11 Organ donation
- 12 Living wills
- 13 Euthanasia and end-of-life decision-making
- 14 Abortion and reproductive health
- 15 The Children Act 1989
- 16 Clinical negligence
- 17 Legislation for medicines and product liability
- 18 Clinical trials: ethical, legal and practical considerations
- 19 Medicolegal implications of blood-borne viruses
- 20 Healthcare professionals in court – professional and expert witnesses
- Index
13 - Euthanasia and end-of-life decision-making
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Editors' note for the first edition
- Editors' note for the second edition
- Foreword
- Table of statutes
- Table of cases
- 1 Legal institutions and the legal process
- 2 Human rights and healthcare professionals
- 3 Medical ethics and the forensic physician
- 4 Confidentiality
- 5 Consent to medical treatment
- 6 Professional bodies and discipline
- 7 Complaints in the National Health Service
- 8 The Mental Health Act (England and Wales)
- 9 Death certification and the role of the coroner
- 10 Tissues and organs
- 11 Organ donation
- 12 Living wills
- 13 Euthanasia and end-of-life decision-making
- 14 Abortion and reproductive health
- 15 The Children Act 1989
- 16 Clinical negligence
- 17 Legislation for medicines and product liability
- 18 Clinical trials: ethical, legal and practical considerations
- 19 Medicolegal implications of blood-borne viruses
- 20 Healthcare professionals in court – professional and expert witnesses
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
As medical technology advances and it becomes increasingly possible to keep people alive who previously would have died, medical professionals and the public have been exercised by issues of death and dying. For some the possibility of extended life in a debilitated condition may not be preferable, while the ideals of others who seek perpetual life and youth may not be possible. Inevitably tensions will arise when it comes to making medical decisions about these boundaries. Life and death are traditionally the domain of the medical profession but at a time of rapid legal and medical development medical professionals need to be certain that their practise accords with the law and ethics.
In a climate of enhanced patient autonomy and following a number of high profile legal cases and permissive legal reforms or attitudes in other jurisdictions, repeated public opinion polls suggest that there is significant support for assisted dying. Generally patients wish to be involved in medical decision-making and to retain control of their lives until they die. For some, as Ronald Dworkin explains, this means requesting or seeking assistance to die, ‘everyday rational people all over the world plead to be allowed to die. Sometimes they plead for others to kill them.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Medicolegal Essentials in Healthcare , pp. 139 - 148Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004