Euthanasia and Law in Europe
May 2008 · Bloomsbury Publishing
Ebook
648
Pages
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
About this ebook
This book is a successor to J Griffiths, A Bood and H Weyers, Euthanasia and Law in the Netherlands (Amsterdam University Press 1998) which was widely praised for its thoroughness, clarity, and accuracy. The new book emphasises recent legal developments and new research, and has been expanded to include a full treatment of Belgium, where since 2002 euthanasia has also become legal. The book also includes descriptions written by local specialists of the legal situation and what is known about actual practice in a number of other European countries (England and Wales, France, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain, Switzerland).
The book strives for as complete and dispassionate a description of the situation as possible. It covers in detail:
- the substantive law applicable to euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, withholding and withdrawing treatment, use of pain relief in potentially lethal doses, palliative and terminal sedation, and termination of life without a request (in particular in the case of newborn babies);
-the process of legal development that has led to the current state of the law;
-the system of legal control and its operation in practice;
-the results of empirical research concerning actual medical practice.
A concluding part deals with some general questions that arise out of the material presented: Is the legalisation of euthanasia an example of the decline of law or should it, on the contrary, be seen as part and parcel of the increasing juridification of the doctor-patient relationship? Does the Dutch experience with legalised euthanasia support the idea of a 'slippery slope' toward a situation in which life-especially of the more vulnerable members of society-is less effectively protected? Is it possible to explain and to predict when a society will decide to legalise euthanasia?
The book strives for as complete and dispassionate a description of the situation as possible. It covers in detail:
- the substantive law applicable to euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, withholding and withdrawing treatment, use of pain relief in potentially lethal doses, palliative and terminal sedation, and termination of life without a request (in particular in the case of newborn babies);
-the process of legal development that has led to the current state of the law;
-the system of legal control and its operation in practice;
-the results of empirical research concerning actual medical practice.
A concluding part deals with some general questions that arise out of the material presented: Is the legalisation of euthanasia an example of the decline of law or should it, on the contrary, be seen as part and parcel of the increasing juridification of the doctor-patient relationship? Does the Dutch experience with legalised euthanasia support the idea of a 'slippery slope' toward a situation in which life-especially of the more vulnerable members of society-is less effectively protected? Is it possible to explain and to predict when a society will decide to legalise euthanasia?
About the author
John Griffiths is Professor of Sociology of Law (Emeritus) at the University of Groningen.
Heleen Weyers is Lecturer in Legal Theory at the University of Groningen.
Maurice Adams is Professor of Law at Tilburg University (the Netherlands) and part time Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Antwerp (Belgium).
Heleen Weyers is Lecturer in Legal Theory at the University of Groningen.
Maurice Adams is Professor of Law at Tilburg University (the Netherlands) and part time Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Antwerp (Belgium).
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
