The Least Worst Death: Essays in Bioethics on the End of Life / Edition 1

by Margaret Pabst Battin

Overview

Engagingly written by one of the foremost experts on issues involving death and dying, this book offers insight into the controversial and often difficult topics of withdrawing and withholding care, euthanasia, and suicide. An extensive introduction identifies the principal ethical issues, and the book explores such dilemmas as rationing health care for the elderly, whether there is a "duty to die," counseling in rational suicide, the risks of abuse with active euthanasia, religious views about suicide, whether suicide can be understood as a fundamental human right, and others. It also examines the differing practices of Holland and Germany in ending life. Exploring the dilemmas raised by contemporary medicine concerning the way die, and collecting under one cover a myriad of crucial elements involving one of the most inflammatory issues of our time, The Least Worst Death presents a timely, international analysis for anyone interested in bioethics or medical and applied ethics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195082654
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/17/1994
Series:	Monographs in Epidemiology and
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

University of Utah

Table of Contents

Introduction. The Politics of Dying: Current Ferment and Background Philosophical IssuesI. Withdrawing and Withholding Care1. The Least Worst Death2. The Eclipse of Altruism: The Moral Price of Deciding for Others3. Is There a Duty to Die?: Age-Rationing and the Just Distribution of Health Care4. Dying in 559 Beds: Efficiency, "Best Buys," and the Ethics of Standardization in National Health CareII. Euthanasia5. Euthansia: The Fundamental Issues6. A Dozen Caveats Concerning the Discussion of Euthanasia in the Netherlands7. Fiction as Forecast: Euthanasia in Alzheimer's Disease? 8. Voluntary Euthanasia and the Risk of AbuseIII. Suicide9. Suicide: The Basic Issues10. Manipulated Suicide11. Prohibition and Invitation: The Paradox of Religious Views about Suicide12. Assisted Suicide: Can We Learn from Germany13. Suicide: A Fundamental Human Right?