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A unique, documented case against the legalisation of 'assisted dying', based mainly on empirical and logical 'slippery slope' concerns.
List of contents
Part I. Definitions: 1. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide; 2. Intended v. foreseen life-shortening; Part II. The Ethical Debate: Human Life, Autonomy, Legal Hypocrisy, and the 'Slippery Slope'; 3. The value of human life; 4. The value of autonomy; 5. Legal hypocrisy?; 6. The slippery slope arguments; Part III. The Dutch Experience: 7. The guidelines; 8. The first survey: the incidence of 'euthanasia'; 9. Breach of the guidelines; 10. The slide towards NVAE; 11. The second survey; 12. The Dutch in denial?; 13. The Euthanasia Act and the Code of Practice; 14. Effective control since 2002?; 15. Continuing concerns; 16. A right to physician-assisted suicide by stopping eating and drinking?; 17. Assisted suicide for the elderly with 'completed lives'; Part IV. Belgium: 18. The Belgian Legislation; 19. The lack of effective control; Part V. Australia: 20. The Northern Territory: ROTTI; Part VI. The United States: 21. The United States: Oregon and six other jurisdictions; 22. The US Supreme Court: Glucksberg and Vacco; Part VII. Canada: 23. The Supreme Court of Canada: the Carter case; 24. Canada's euthanasia legislation; 25. Conclusion.
About the author
John Keown is a leading and widely-published authority on the law and ethics of medicine. Before being appointed to the Rose Kennedy Chair in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown, he taught medical law in the Faculty of Law at Cambridge. In 2015 he was made a Doctor of Civil Law by Oxford for his contribution to law and bioethics. A focus of his research, which has been cited by the Law Lords and by the US Supreme Court, has been the law and practice of euthanasia in the Netherlands. That research formed the centrepiece to the first edition of this work, which was widely acclaimed.
Summary
The book explains to the reader (general or specialist) the powerful 'slippery slope' arguments against legalising 'assisted dying'. Drawing on the experience of legalisation in the Netherlands, Belgium and Oregon, it shows that 'assisted dying' cannot be effectively controlled by law.
