Matters of life and death : making moral theory work in medical ethics and the law / David Orentlicher.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Orentlicher, David, 1955- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Medical ethics.

Medical laws and legislation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (250 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2001]

Summary:

Philosophical debates over the fundamental principles that should guide life-and-death medical decisions usually occur at a considerable remove from the tough, real-world choices made in hospital rooms, courthouses, and legislatures. David Orentlicher seeks to change that, drawing on his extensive experience in both medicine and law to address the translation of moral principle into practice--a move that itself generates important moral concerns. Orentlicher uses controversial life-and-death issues as case studies for evaluating three models for translating principle into practice. Physician-assisted suicide illustrates the application of ''generally valid rules,'' a model that provides predictability and simplicity and, more importantly, avoids the personal biases that influence case-by-case judgments. The author then takes up the debate over forcing pregnant women to accept treatments to save their fetuses. He uses this issue to weigh the ''avoidance of perverse incentives,'' an approach to translation that follows principles hesitantly for fear of generating unintended results. And third, Orentlicher considers the denial of life-sustaining treatment on grounds of medical futility in his evaluation of the ''tragic choices'' model, which hides difficult life-and-death choices in order to prevent paralyzing social conflict. Matters of Life and Death is a rich and stimulating contribution to bioethics and law. It is the first book to examine closely the broad problems of translating principle into practice. And by analyzing specific controversies along the way, it develops original insights likely to provoke both moral philosophers and those working on thorny issues of life and death.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

One Introduction

PART ONE: THE APPROACH OF USING GENERALLY VALID RULES

Two The Importance of Generally Valid Rules in Implementing Moral Principle

Three The Absence of a Moral Distinction between Treatment Withdrawal and Assisted Suicide

Four The Distinction between Treatment Withdrawal and Assisted Suicide as a Generally Valid Way to Distinguish between Morally Justified and Morally Unjustified Deaths

PART TWO: AVOIDING PERVERSE INCENTIVES

Five The Implications for Practice of a Policy's Perverse Incentives

Six Underlying Moral Principle Permits a Limited Legal Obligation for Pregnant Women to Accept Life-Saving Treatment for Their Fetuses

Seven The Problems with a Legal Duty for Pregnant Women Because of Perverse Incentives

PART THREE: THE "TRAGIC CHOICES" MODEL

Eight Avoiding Explicit Trade-offs through Implicit Choices

Nine Limitations of the "Futility" Concept in Medical Treatment Decisions

Ten Futility as a Way to Make "Tragic Choices"

Conclusion

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691227665

0691227667

OCLC:

1150291994