Dignity and the Ownership and Use of Body Parts

Abstract:Property-based models of the ownership of body parts are common. They are inadequate. They fail to deal satisfactorily with many important problems, and even when they do work, they rely on ideas that have to be derived from deeper, usually unacknowledged principles. This article proposes that the parent principle is always human dignity, and that one will get more satisfactory answers if one interrogates the older, wiser parent instead of the younger, callow offspring. But human dignity has a credibility problem. It is often seen as hopelessly amorphous or incurably theological. These accusations are often just. But a more thorough exegesis exculpates dignity and gives it its proper place at the fountainhead of bioethics. Dignity is objective human thriving. Thriving considerations can and should be applied to dead people as well as live ones. To use dignity properly, the unit of bioethical analysis needs to be the whole transaction rather than (for instance) the doctor-patient relationship. The dignity interests of all the stakeholders are assessed in a sort of utilitarianism. Its use in relation to body part ownership is demonstrated. Article 8(1) of the European Convention of Human Rights endorses and mandates this approach.

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The legal recognition of personality: full-face veils and permissible choices

International Journal of Law in Context ◽

10.1017/s1744552313000372 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 64-80 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jill Marshall

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Human Dignity ◽

Freedom Of Expression ◽

Personality Development ◽

Private Life ◽

Human Freedom ◽

European Convention ◽

Liberal Democracies ◽

Public Places ◽

Full Face

AbstractA woman's freedom to develop her personality or identity as she sees fit is supposed to be legally protected in twenty-first century Europe. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) provides a right to respect for one's private life in Article 8 which has been judicially interpreted to provide a right to identity or personality development. Additionally, Article 14 provides for non-discrimination and Articles 9 and 10 for freedom of expression, including that which is religious. Arguments are examined of some different interpretations of the overall purpose of human rights law − to respect human dignity and human freedom. These are examined by reference to the recent criminalisation of wearing face coverings in public places in certain European countries where the intention is to prevent the wearing of the Islamic full-face veil.1It is argued that each woman's identity is legally recognised when the concepts of human dignity and human freedom are interpreted as empowering and self-determining rather than constraining and paternalistic. Legally banning full-face veils, in liberal democracies in situations where an adult woman says she has freely chosen to wear such a garment, misrecognises her and disrespects her identity or personality: as a human being, as a member of a religious or cultural group and as an individual person capable of subjectively interpreting her own identity or personality as she sees fit.

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Prawa i godność człowieka we współczesnej bioetyce

Studia Ecologiae et Bioethicae ◽

10.21697/seb.2004.2.1.10 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 189-212

Author(s):

Wojciech Bołoz

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Human Dignity ◽

Ethical Code ◽

European Convention ◽

Human Being ◽

Application Of Law ◽

Contemporary World ◽

The World ◽

Independent Life ◽

The Way

In contemporary bioethics dominate two trends dealing with two basic ethical solutions. First of them is utilitarianism concerning utility as a criterion of judging between what is right and what is wrong. The second trend applies to human rights and human dignity, which are to be obeyed without any exceptions. Utilitarianism protects the strong and prosperous people in society and excludes those who are weak and not capable of independent life. The concept of human dignity protects each and every human being including the weakest ones. It is therefore characterized by real humanitarianism. In addition, it has one more outstanding virtue; in the contemporary world, it is the most widespread and understandable ethical code. It enables people of different civilizations to communicate with understandable ethical language. In the world constantly undergoing global processes, it is a great value. Although there are a number of discussions concerning the way of understanding human dignity and human rights, their universal and ethical meaning; there are certain international acts of law concerning biomedicine that support the concept of human dignity as the most adequate concept for the contemporary bioethics. As an example, the European Convention on Bioethics can be taken. The article includes the most significant topics concerning understanding, history, and application of law and human dignity in bioethics.

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Human Dignity and the European Convention on Human Rights

Handbook of Human Dignity in Europe ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-27830-8_47-1 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 1-24

Author(s):

Sebastian Heselhaus ◽

Ralph Hemsley

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Human Dignity ◽

European Convention

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A New Approach to Human Rights: The European Convention for the Prevention of Torture

The American Journal of International Law ◽

10.2307/2202800 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 83 (1) ◽

pp. 128-153 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Antonio Cassese

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Human Dignity ◽

Legal Regulation ◽

European Convention ◽

New Approach ◽

Current State

A review of the current state of legal regulation in the field of human rights is likely to give the disappointing impression that international legislation is unequal to the task of checking widespread disregard for human dignity. Despite the vast proliferation of instruments setting standards on human rights, imposing obligations as regards the observance of those standards and establishing procedures to deal with breaches of those obligations, violations of human rights continue, their perpetrators apparently undeterred.

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Human Rights and Human Tissue

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199680832.013.44 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Morag Goodwin

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Human Dignity ◽

Human Tissue ◽

Common Law ◽

Body Parts ◽

Individual Property ◽

Law And Technology ◽

The Supreme Court ◽

Marital Property ◽

The Common

In a 2012 Canadian case, the Supreme Court of British Columbia held that sperm acquired and stored for the purposes of IVF could be considered shared marital property in the event of a separation. This case followed on from similar cases that accepted sperm as capable of being property. This chapter suggests that these cases are indicative of a shift from the legal conceptualization of bodies and body parts as falling within a human dignity frame to accepting individual property rights claims. It explores the nature of the property claims to sperm before the (common law) courts in the context of the rise of human rights within law and technology, and argues that accepting these claims risks corrupting the very thing rights seek to protect.

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THE PROBLEMS OF HUMAN DIGNITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE CONTEXT OF BIOETHICS

wisdom ◽

10.24234/wisdom.v11i2.219 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 33-41

Author(s):

Tatevik Pirumyan

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Human Dignity ◽

Universal Declaration ◽

European Convention ◽

Human Being ◽

Nuremberg Code ◽

Declaration Of Helsinki ◽

International Conventions ◽

Globalized World ◽

Declaration Of Geneva

The article presents an analysis of the principles of human dignity and human rights from the viewpoint of bioethics, describes the development and modifications of the concepts of “human dignity” and “human rights” in different historical stages. The main purpose of the article’s detailed observation is a complete and true perception of the problems of human dignity and human rights in the contemporary globalized world. To implement the above-mentioned aim, the paper deals with different international conventions and declarations: Convention for the Protection of Human and Dignity of the human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention of Human Rights and Biomedicine, European Convention on Human Rights, Human Rights and Biomedicine: The Oviedo Convention and its Protocols, The Nuremberg Code, The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, WMA Declaration of Geneva, WMA Declaration of Helsinki and WMA Declaration of Lisbon on the rights of the patient.

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Two Competing Conceptions of Human Dignity

10.1093/oso/9780190675967.003.0010 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Luke Gormally

Keyword(s):

Human Nature ◽

Interpersonal Relationships ◽

Human Dignity ◽

Assisted Suicide ◽

Medical Professionals ◽

Worth Living ◽

Patient Relationship ◽

Doctor Patient Relationship

The doctor–patient relationship that is at issue in assisted suicide should be governed by norms of justice, expressed in rights and obligations. An autonomy-based understanding of dignity provides no basis for just regulation of interpersonal relationships and in particular grounds no right to assistance in suicide. An understanding of dignity as intrinsic to human nature does provide a basis for the doctor–patient relationship, as for all interpersonal relationships, and one that is incompatible with accommodating in law the judgment that characteristically underpins requests for assistance in suicide and that purports to justify such assistance, namely the patient’s judgment that his or her life is no longer worth living. The continued prohibition of assistance in intentional killing is one that serves both to protect citizens, including patients, and to preserve the integrity of medical professionals as healers and servants of life.

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Human Dignity and the European Convention on Human Rights

Handbook of Human Dignity in Europe ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-28082-0_47 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 969-992 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sebastian Heselhaus ◽

Ralph Hemsley

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Human Dignity ◽

European Convention

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Formation of a human-centric approach to the prevention of torture in Ukraine

Economics. Finances. Law ◽

10.37634/efp.2021.4(1).5 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 24-27

Author(s):

Khrystyna YAMELSKA

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Law Enforcement ◽

Human Dignity ◽

Special Problem ◽

Fundamental Rights ◽

European Convention ◽

Political Rights ◽

Law Enforcement Agencies ◽

Legal Ideology ◽

The Right

The paper is concerned with the role of key international human rights standards and soft law instruments of the Council of Europe in the preventing ill-treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in the context of the human centrist approach. The paper determine the purpose of the formation of human-centric legal ideology in Ukraine, which is the creation of a mechanism of effective restriction of public power in the interests of protecting the fundamental rights. The paper is dedicated to the doctrine of human-centric legal ideology in Ukraine and its human dignity key element. Considering the fact that the process of forming a democratic human-centric legal ideology in Ukraine is still not complete, the paper highlights the cases of mass violations of fundamental human rights by law enforcement agencies, where a special problem is the illegal practice of law enforcement agencies against human dignity. One of its case is the ill-treatment and use of torture against persons deprived of their liberty. The paper highlights the ways to protect the right to dignity through the prism of legislative activity of government bodies and advocacy of civil society institutions. The Article 28 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which establishes the right to respect for human dignity as one of the key values of the Ukrainian legal system, is revealed. The category of dignity is revealed through the prism of Articles 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of December 10, 1948, Articles 7 and 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of December 16, 1966 and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights of November 4, 1950. Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, acts of the European Committee against Torture.

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