Main description:

Assisted dying is still an extremely contested topic in Bioethics. Despite the strongly influential role human dignity plays in this debate, it still has not received the appropriate, multi-faceted treatment it deserves. Studies show that the notion of dignity already plays an important role in medical contexts: it is frequently used by health care professionals as well as patients. However, its use in these contexts needs to be analyzed and explained in more detail.
Moreover, a review of the available literature clearly shows that the general, highly fruitful academic debate on human dignity is more than ready to take the next step into applied ethics: in particular, into the even more controversial area of assisted death. This book offers a detailed
philosophical analysis of dignity and how it relates to assisted death. Its audience will benefit both from the general discussion of human dignity it offers as well as from the specific bioethical context to which it is applied.

Contents:

Contributors

1. Sebastian Muders: Introduction

A. Dignity and the Case of Assisted Death
2. Jeff McMahan: Dignity and the Case Against Assisted Death
3. Ralf Stoecker: Dignity and the Case in Favor of Assisted Death

B. Dignity at the End of Life
4. L. W. Sumner: Dignity Through Thick and Thin
5. Robert George/Christopher Kaczor: Death with Dignity: A Dangerous Euphemism

C. Dignity and Disability
6. David Wasserman: Physical Disability, Dignity, and Physician Assisted Death
7. Rebecca Dresser: Dementia, Dignity, and Assisted Death

D. Dignity and Autonomy
8. Sebastian Muders: Autonomy and the Value of Life as Elements of Human Dignity
9. Michael Cholbi: Dignity, Price, and Assisted Dying

E. Dignity and the Value of Life
10. Luke Gormally: Two Competing Conceptions of Dignity
11. William FitzPatrick: The Value of Life and the Dignity of Persons

F. Dignity and Rights
12. Margaret Battin: Dignity as a Fundamental Human Right Revisited
13. Holger Baumann/Peter Schaber: Dignity as Moral Status and the Debate about Assisted Death