Progressive Dying: Meaningful Acts of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Journal of Medical Humanities 19 (4):279-298 (1998)
| Abstract | In this paper I use William James's understanding of significance in life to show that for certain patients euthanasia and assisted suicide can be importantly meaningful acts that family, friends, and health care professionals must acknowledge and even, at times, aid in bringing to fruition. Dying with meaning is transformative. It reshapes the lives of others that are left behind, giving to their lives new groundings by engaging them in the meaning of dying for us. For the patient, dying with meaning takes the seemingly formless void in the abyss of death and gives it a significant purpose in the last stages of life itself; it turns potential nothingness into actual significance. To the extent that we outsiders do not help the dying, we condemn terminally ill patients to a meaningless existence until they die | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,875 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesMary Warnock (2008). Easeful Death: Is There a Case for Assisted Dying? Oxford University Press.
Robert Young (2013). 'Debating the Morality and Legality of Medically Assisted Dying'. Critical Notice of Emily Jackson and John Keown, Debating Euthanasia. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2012. Criminal Law and Philosophy 7 (1):151-160.
Perry A. Pugno (2004). One Physician's Perspective: Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide. Health Care Analysis 12 (3):215-223.
L. W. Sumner (2011). Assisted Death: A Study in Ethics and Law. Oxford University Press.
Jukka Varelius (2012). Ending Life, Morality, and Meaning. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 16 (3):559-574.
Reed Richter (1988). The Hastings Center and Euthanasia. The Euthanasia Review 3 (1):56-72.
Kerri Anne Brussen (2010). Physician Assisted Suicide in the United States of America. Chisholm Health Ethics Bulletin 16 (2):3.
Miles Little (1999). Assisted Suicide, Suffering and the Meaning of a Life. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 20 (3).
Joanne Grainger (2008). A Nurse's Perspective on the Victorian Euthanasia Bill. Chisholm Health Ethics Bulletin 14 (1):4.
Albert R. Jonsen (1993). Living with Euthanasia: A Futuristic Scenario. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 18 (3):241-251.
Craig Paterson (2009). A History of Ideas Concerning the Morality of Suicide, Assisted Suicide and Voluntary Euthanasia. In Rajitha Tadikonda (ed.), Physician Assisted Euthanasia. Icfai University Press.
Cees M. P. M. Hertogh, Marike E. de Boer, Rose-Marie Dröes & Jan A. Eefsting (2007). Would We Rather Lose Our Life Than Lose Our Self? Lessons From the Dutch Debate on Euthanasia for Patients with Dementia. American Journal of Bioethics 7 (4):48 – 56.
M. Pabst Battin (2005). Ending Life: Ethics and the Way We Die. Oxford University Press.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-08-30Total downloads22 ( #57,056 of 556,837 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #64,847 of 556,837 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
