Citation

Gehring P. Law Lit. 2020; 32(2): 291-302.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, University of California Press)

DOI

10.1080/1535685X.2020.1763603

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines the slightly changing legal and ethical situation in Germany around so called end-of-life-decisions. Representation plays the complex role here of a 'dispositif' in the Foucauldian sense. Living wills first came into use 40 years ago: a very personal choice (how do I want to die?) could now be transferred to a proxy decision-maker. Some years later, various forms of presumed agreement gained acceptance, and today even merely hypothetical consent has become conceivable. Representation increasingly ceases to be representational at all. At the same time, concepts from Civil Law (Autonomy, Decision) have finally absorbed an older way of thinking that was based in Criminal Law. Beyond a biopolitical shift, according to the author's thesis, these changes also correspond to a juridical shift. © 2020 by The Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

assisted suicide; euthanasia; informed consent; living will; autonomy; bioethics; patient autonomy; biopolitics; critical legal studies; end of life decision(s)