Ethics at the End of Life: New Issues and Arguments / Edition 1

by John Davis

Overview

The 14 chapters in Ethics at the End of Life: New Issues and Arguments, all published here for the first time, focus on recent thinking in this important area, helping initiate issues and lines of argument that have not been explored previously. At the same time, a reader can use this volume to become oriented to the established questions and positions in end of life ethics, both because new questions are set in their context, and because most of the chapters—written by a team of experts—survey the field as well as add to it. Each chapter includes initial summaries, final conclusions, and a Related Topics section.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138829756
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/09/2016
Series:	Routledge Handbooks in Applied Ethics Series
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

John K. Davis is Professor of Philosophy at California State University, Fullerton. He has published articles on various aspects of end of life care.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors vii

Introduction John K. Davis 1

Part I The End of Life 9

1 Is It Possible to Be Better Off Dead? Geoffrey Scarre 11

2 How Does Death Harm the Deceased? Taylor W. Cyr 29

3 The Significance of an Afterlife Benjamin Mitchell-Yellin 47

4 The Severity of Death Jens Johansson 61

5 Defining Death John K. Davis 74

Part II Who Decides When to End Life? 91

6 Autonomy, Competence, and End of Life James Stacey Taylor 93

7 Deciding for the Incompetent Eric Vogelstein 108

8 Change of Mind: An Issue for Advance Directives Paul T. Menzel 126

9 Medical Futility and Respect for Patient Autonomy Nancy S. Jecker 138

Part III How to End Life 153

10 Refusing Lifesaving Medical Treatment and Food and Water by Month Paul T. Menzel 155

11 Suicide, Physician-Assisted Suicide, the Doing-Allowing Distinction, and Double Effect Thomas S. Huddle 171

Part IV Other Parties and the End of Life 199

12 Grief and End-of-Life Surrogate Decision-Making Michael Cholbi 201

13 Solidarity Near the End of Life: The Promise of Relational Decision-Making in the Care of the Dying Bruce Jennings 218

14 Justice and the Aging of the Human Species Colin Farrelly 235

Index 249

Editorial Reviews

"This collection features quality work by influential philosophers on matters of great importance, and scholars interested in life and death issues will benefit having this collection at hand."

- William Simkulet, University of Wisonsin, US

From the Publisher