Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy: An Argument against Legalisation (Cambridge Bioethics and Law)

Synopsis

Whether the law should permit voluntary euthanasia and/or physician-assisted suicide is one of the most weighty and controversial questions facing modern societies. Internationally, the main obstacle to legalisation has proved to be the argument that, even if they were morally acceptable in certain 'hard cases', they could not be effectively controlled and society would slide down a 'slippery slope' to practices that most people would agree to be morally unacceptable. In particular, the argument runs, the law could not prevent the killing of patients who did not make a truly free and properly informed request, or for whom palliative care would have offered a viable alternative, and for an ever-expanding range of reasons. How cogent is this argument? This book provides the general reader (who need have no expertise in philosophy, law or medicine) with a lucid introduction to this central question in the debate, largely by reviewing the experience of three jurisdictions that have relaxed their laws: the Netherlands, Belgium and the US state of Oregon. The book will interest readers, whatever their views on the ethics of voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, who wish to ensure that their opinion about whether they should be legally permitted is better informed--