The Right to Die the End-of-Life Stage in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
D.C. Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Right To Die ◽  
The Right

The “Right to Die” (DRAFT)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Macauley
Keyword(s):  
Medical Treatment ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Pain Medication ◽  
Palliative Sedation ◽  
Patient Rights ◽  
Right To Die ◽  
Active Euthanasia ◽  
Passive Euthanasia ◽  
Life Sustaining Treatment ◽  
The Right

Formerly referred to as “passive euthanasia,” forgoing life-sustaining medical treatment came to be accepted in the 1970s based on a patient’s right to privacy. In order to achieve this societal shift, the practice was clearly distinguished from active euthanasia, which was universally rejected. Over the ensuing decades, other permutations of “the right to die”—including receiving intensive pain medication at the end of life and palliative sedation—were considered and accepted to varying degrees. Modern advocates of euthanasia now argue that it is not, in fact, so different from forgoing life-sustaining medical treatment, which endangers the critical consensus that lies at the heart of the patient rights movement. Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking is also discussed, as well as the ethical equivalence of withdrawing and withholding life-sustaining treatment.

When choosing death is an affirmation of life: A public remembrance of our family’s journey

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 414-423
Author(s):  
H. James Hopkins ◽  
Karen D. Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Major Surgery ◽  
Right To Die ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Death With Dignity ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Right

This article is a theological reflection written four months after the death, at age 80, of Nedra Faye Hathaway, mother to co-author Karen and mother-in-law to co-author Jim. Nedra chose to end her life on October 24, 2016, over a year after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, almost eleven months after major surgery to remove her pancreas and four months after learning the cancer was still present even after eighteen chemotherapy treatments. For many years Nedra, an Oregonian, had been a proponent of the right to die with dignity. She had supported Oregon’s approval of “Death with Dignity” law. Different states refer to this as physician-assisted suicide, right to die, or euthanasia. After moving to California to reside with her daughter and son-in-law, Nedra was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a diagnosis that eventually led to the conclusion that she had only months to live. After choosing to participate in California’s newly approved End of Life Option Act, Nedra agreed to contribute as part of an educational panel to support the Act. She wowed the participants of the Program. She expressed her strong belief in her right to make end-of-life decisions, appreciation for programs such as the one in which she was participating, her desire to see more states adopt Death with Dignity legislation, and her personal gratitude to each of the professionals who volunteer to support patients who make choices like hers. She also said, “I recognize there is a difference in supporting me in this process and agreeing with me at every turn in the road.” Following her participation on this panel nothing more was said to her by family members, initially uncomfortable with her decision, about taking her end-of-life medication. In the end, on a legal level, the family found that, with Nedra, they supported the adoption of “right-to-die” legislation by additional states. While they do not think that the choice she made will be the best choice for every person and every family, they acknowledge that simply having the right to choose the time and place of her death brought Nedra comfort; simultaneously, the family found themselves hoping they would have the same right regardless of which state they lived in.

Will Postmortal Catholics Have “The Right to Die”?
 The Transhumanist and Catholic Perspectives on Death and Immortality

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-433
Author(s):  
Anna Bugajska
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Right To Die ◽  
Life Issues ◽  
End Of Life Issues ◽  
The Right

The article discusses the transhumanist and Catholic perspectives on death and immortality within the speculation on the rise of a postmortal society, and asks the question if Catholics have the right to reject immortalist technologies. To address this problem, I first outline the ideas and technology leading to the rise of a postmortal society, and accept Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon as a counterfactual scenario. Further, the naturalistic and Catholic understandings of death are compared, and it is shown that despite superficial similarities, they are fundamentally different. Finally, I consider insights from the current debates on end-of-life issues, such as euthanasia and the right to die, since some of the reasons and motivations behind choosing to die will be different in the postmortal society. The analysis allows to provide a set of arguments and problems for further consideration when it comes to the rejection of immortalist technologies.

When Hospice Fails: The Limits of Palliative Care

1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Logue
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Patient Autonomy ◽  
Right To Die ◽  
Active Euthanasia ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Palliative Approach ◽  
The Right

Hospice is the best-known example of palliative care. Advocates maintain that good palliative care precludes any need for suicide, assisted suicide, or euthanasia for suffering patients near the end of life. This article examines the feasibility of the palliative approach for all patients, showing that reasonable people may refuse even the most exemplary care for themselves or an incompetent relative. Palliative care should always have an important place in medicine. Yet medical realities and the alleviation of pointless suffering necessitate that policymakers consider other options, including “active” euthanasia, consistent with patient autonomy and the right to die.

scholarly journals The Right to Die and the Communal Body - An examination of the media influence, ethical principles and stakeholder attitudes towards assisted dying in New Zealand from a sociology in bioethics perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sarah Revell-Dennett
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Right To Die ◽  
Assisted Dying ◽  
Assisted Death ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Socially Situated

<p>This thesis is based on a sociology in bioethics approach which seeks to demonstrate that the current rhetoric being used by parties on both sides of the debate is no longer useful for the realities that people are expressing or living. In sociology, the assisted dying literature has tended to focus on the social, political, economic and cultural contexts within which it is sought, and to understand the range of definitions that are used to conceptualise a good death. Bioethics literature, on the other hand, has removed the socially situated individual from ethical discussions of assisted dying. By engaging with an idea of the communal body, interpreted as a moral community who experience intersubjective realties, this thesis provides a platform to combine these two perspectives. It seeks to examine the range of possibilities for understanding the socially situated and relationally autonomous individual requesting medically-assisted death.  The debate in New Zealand surrounding the right-to-die was brought to the fore in 2015 when terminally ill Lecretia Seales took a case to the High Court. Her argument sought a clarification of the current law, which would have allowed her doctor to provide life-ending medication should her pain and suffering become unbearable. Seales’ case was unsuccessful but it, along with the following events, has succeeded in bringing attention about end-of-life choices to the New Zealand public and media. The current End of Life Choice Bill, which stands before Parliament and was proposed by Member of Parliament (MP) David Seymour of the ACT Party, will once again provide a chance for these issues to be voted on by New Zealand’s elected officials.  A critical analysis of provincial New Zealand media articles, across the time periods between 2002-2005 and 2012-2015, has sought to highlight the ways the media influences public perceptions of the debate and emphasises the limited discourse available. These years represent significant periods during which events in time led the media to variably describe these deaths from murders to mercy killings. Further thematic analysis (TA) of 12 interviews undertaken with stakeholders in the field of medically-assisted dying show discrepancies between lay public knowledge and informed stakeholder views.  Overall, this thesis situates the communal body within the right-to-die argument in New Zealand. The results lend themselves to support a view that the current lack of available discourse has for the most part irrevocably rendered a divide between those who campaign for change and those who do not. In this thesis, I argue that by positioning itself within a sociology in bioethics approach, the right-to-die debate in New Zealand will be afforded a clearer understanding.</p>

scholarly journals The Right to Die and the Communal Body - An examination of the media influence, ethical principles and stakeholder attitudes towards assisted dying in New Zealand from a sociology in bioethics perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sarah Revell-Dennett
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Right To Die ◽  
Assisted Dying ◽  
Assisted Death ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Socially Situated

<p>This thesis is based on a sociology in bioethics approach which seeks to demonstrate that the current rhetoric being used by parties on both sides of the debate is no longer useful for the realities that people are expressing or living. In sociology, the assisted dying literature has tended to focus on the social, political, economic and cultural contexts within which it is sought, and to understand the range of definitions that are used to conceptualise a good death. Bioethics literature, on the other hand, has removed the socially situated individual from ethical discussions of assisted dying. By engaging with an idea of the communal body, interpreted as a moral community who experience intersubjective realties, this thesis provides a platform to combine these two perspectives. It seeks to examine the range of possibilities for understanding the socially situated and relationally autonomous individual requesting medically-assisted death.  The debate in New Zealand surrounding the right-to-die was brought to the fore in 2015 when terminally ill Lecretia Seales took a case to the High Court. Her argument sought a clarification of the current law, which would have allowed her doctor to provide life-ending medication should her pain and suffering become unbearable. Seales’ case was unsuccessful but it, along with the following events, has succeeded in bringing attention about end-of-life choices to the New Zealand public and media. The current End of Life Choice Bill, which stands before Parliament and was proposed by Member of Parliament (MP) David Seymour of the ACT Party, will once again provide a chance for these issues to be voted on by New Zealand’s elected officials.  A critical analysis of provincial New Zealand media articles, across the time periods between 2002-2005 and 2012-2015, has sought to highlight the ways the media influences public perceptions of the debate and emphasises the limited discourse available. These years represent significant periods during which events in time led the media to variably describe these deaths from murders to mercy killings. Further thematic analysis (TA) of 12 interviews undertaken with stakeholders in the field of medically-assisted dying show discrepancies between lay public knowledge and informed stakeholder views.  Overall, this thesis situates the communal body within the right-to-die argument in New Zealand. The results lend themselves to support a view that the current lack of available discourse has for the most part irrevocably rendered a divide between those who campaign for change and those who do not. In this thesis, I argue that by positioning itself within a sociology in bioethics approach, the right-to-die debate in New Zealand will be afforded a clearer understanding.</p>

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