De to veiene til dødshjelp
This chapter’s claim is that arguments for legalising assisted dying essentially follow one of two paths. We can either justify it in the person’s self-determination (the “autonomy path”), or in the person having rational, good reasons for his death wish (the “rationality path”). Both these lines of argument have radical consequences when their logical implications are fully pursued, and an attempt to balance these principles will be under constant pressure. This presents a challenge to those who think it is fairly straightforward to design our preferred assisted dying law, and should make us think through carefully what any legalisation will entail and what principles underlie it. If we take the principle of self-determination seriously, it leads to a very liberal assisted dying law that few Nordic advocates of legalisation would want. On the other hand, choosing the path of rationality requires that we, as a society, define criteria for when life is “not worth living”, based on characteristics that large groups of fellow human beings possess, including those who do not share a desire to die.