Assisted Dying: Reflections on the Need for Law Reform / Edition 1

by Sheila McLean

Overview

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.

Assisted Dying is winner of the The Minty Prize of the Society of Authors, and winner of the Royal Society of Medicine Book Awards, 2008

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781844720552
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/29/2007
Series:	Biomedical Law and Ethics Library
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

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

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher