The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

Naslovnica
Princeton University Press, 23. ožu 2009. - Broj stranica: 320

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.

 

Sadržaj

1 Introduction
1
The Judiciarys NonResolution of the Assisted Suicide Debate
8
3 The Debate over History
19
If a Right to Refuse Then a Right to Assisted Suicide?
48
Do They Intimate a Right to Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia?
76
6 Autonomy Theorys Implications for the Debate over Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia
86
Utilitarian Arguments for Legalization
102
Posner and Epstein
143
The Right to Refuse Care for Competent and Incompetent Patients
181
Epilogue
219
Certain American Statutory Laws Banning or Disapprovingof Assisted Suicide
227
Statistical Calculations
229
Notes
231
Bibliography
285
Index
303
Autorska prava

9 An Argument against Legalization
157

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O autoru (2009)

Neil M. Gorsuch is an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

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