Regulating the End of Life: Death Rights

Description

Death Rights is a collection of cutting-edge chapters on assisted dying and euthanasia, written by leading authors in the field. Providing an overview of current regulation on assisted dying and euthanasia, both in the UK and internationally, this book also addresses the associated debates on ethical, moral and rights issues. It considers whether, just as there is a right to life, there should also be a right to death, especially in the context of unbearable human suffering. The unintended consequences of prohibitions on assisted dying and euthanasia are explored, and the argument put forward that knowing one can choose when and how one dies can be life-extending, rather than life-limiting. Key critiques from feminist and disability studies are addressed. The overarching theme of the collection is that death is an embodied right which we should be entitled to exercise, with appropriate safeguards, as and when we choose. Making a novel contribution to the debate on assisted dying, this interdisciplinary book will appeal to those with relevant interests in law, socio-legal studies, applied ethics, medical ethics, politics, philosophy, and sociology. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of contributors 1 Introducing ‘Regulating the End of Life: Death Rights’ PART I: Legal changes and challenges 2 Legal change on assisted dying 3 Contesting death rights: reflections from the courtroom 4 Voluntary assisted dying in Victoria, Australia: a values-based critique PART II: Ethics, morals and values 5 Assisted dying, ethics and the law: for, against, or somewhere in between? 6 Euthanasia as life-extension 7 A pro tanto moral case for assisted death PART III: Rights claims 8 Understanding rights in the context of a “right to die” 9 Dying with conscience: the potential application of Article 9 ECHR to assisted dying 10 Euthanasia, biopolitics, and care of the self PART IV: Transgressions 11 Laughing to death: necrosocialities and ‘right to die’ activism 12 Choosing death in anticipation of older age-related suffering: reflections based on a Dutch study 13 Dying alone: exercising a right or transgressing the rules? 14 Embodiment, choice and control at the beginning and ending of life: paradoxes and contradictions. A provocation Index