Citation

Jennings B. J. Pain Symptom Manage. 1991; 6(5): 312-316.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0885-3924(91)90055-9

PMID

1856506

Abstract

Public sentiment in favor of permitting voluntary active euthanasia creates a dilemma for a bioethics rooted in a libertarian notion of autonomy. At stake in the active euthanasia debate is actually a question of power--the individual's assertion of sovereignty over the timing and circumstances of his or her own death. Also at stake is society's unwillingness to impose a conception of the good--and a good dying--on individuals whose personal values and conceptions of the good may differ. In order both to reject voluntary active euthanasia and to affirm the patient's right to forgo life-sustaining treatment, some societal conception of the good must be developed and agreed upon to counter unbridled claims of individual self-sovereignty over dying. Pragmatic arguments alone, such as the need to maintain confidence in the doctor-patient relationship, will not be sufficient.

Language: en

Keywords

Analytical Approach; Beneficence; Bioethics; Death and Euthanasia; Ethics, Medical; Euthanasia; Euthanasia, Active; Euthanasia, Active, Voluntary; Euthanasia, Passive; Humans; Personal Autonomy; Risk Assessment; Social Values; Stress, Psychological; Suicide; United States