The Right to Live in Dignity and the Right to Die in Dignity
Dr. Raphael Cohen-Almagor
The Right to Live in Dignity and the Right to Die in Dignity
UCLA School of Law
Seminar
The seminar aims to explore the issues of abortion and euthanasia from two angles:
philosophical and legal, and to combine theory with an empirical study of court cases. It
focuses on the following questions: (1) When does human life begin? (2) What does it
mean to say that human life has an intrinsic value? (3) Whether or not life can be
intrinsically important independently of the interests of the person concerned, i.e., how
can we accommodate between the model of thinking which holds that human life is
inherently valuable and the model of thinking which takes into consideration the
autonomy, rights and interests of the individual. More specifically, how can we decide
between, say, the duty of keeping a person alive and her right to keep her dignity (which
may also be considered as an intrinsic value)? (4) What rights do people who suffer from
a terminal disease possess?, and (5) should we honor advance directives and living wills.
Finally, (6) does a liberal society have a duty or some form of communal obligation to
keep fetuses and people alive? Here consideration will be given to the financial costs
involved in keeping people alive for months, sometimes for years.
Items noted with * are not obligatory.
ABORTION
Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113, 93 S. Ct. 705 (1973).
Liberal and Conservative Perspectives
Thomson, Judith Jarvis, "A Defense of Abortion", Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol.
1, No. 1 (1971), pp. 47-66.
Dworkin, Ronald, Life's Dominion (New York: Knopf, 1993), chap. 2.
Finnis, John, "The Rights and Wrongs of Abortion", Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol.
2, No. 2 (1973), pp. 117-145.
* Sumner, L.W. “Toward a Credible View of Abortion”, Canadian Journal of Philosophy,
Vol. 4, No. 1 (1974), pp. 163-181.
Bridging the Gap
Wertheimer, Roger, "Understanding the Abortion Argument", Philosophy and Public
Affairs, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1973), pp. 67-95.
THE RIGHT TO DIE IN DIGNITY
Terminology
Cohen-Almagor, Raphael, “‘Death with Dignity’, ‘Quality of Life’, ‘Vegetative State’,
‘Double Effect’, and Other Terms Doctors Use”, in The Right to Die in Dignity and
Mercy Killings: An Argument in Philosophy, Medicine and Law (forthcoming).
Autonomy: The Rights and Interests of the Individual
Dworkin, Ronald, Life's Dominion (New York: Knopf, 1993), chaps. 7, 8.
Cohen-Almagor, Raphael, "Autonomy, Life as an Intrinsic Value, and Death with
Dignity", Science and Engineering Ethics, Vol. 1, No. 3 (1995), pp. 261-272.
Cohen-Almagor, Raphael, The Boundaries of Liberty and Tolerance (Gainesville, FL.:
University Press of Florida, 1994), chap. 1.
Mercy Killing
Cohen-Almagor, Raphael, "Reflections on the Intriguing Issue of the Right to Die in
Dignity", Isr. L. Rev. Vol. 29, No. 4 (1995), pp. 677-701.
Cohen-Almagor, Raphael, “The Quality of Life Argument in Medical Ethics: A Critical
View”, in The Right to Die in Dignity and Mercy Killings: An Argument in Philosophy,
Medicine and Law (forthcoming).
* Dickens, Bernard M., "When Terminally Ill Patients Request Death: Assisted Suicide
Before Canadian Courts", J. of Palliative Care, Vol. 10, No. 2 (1994), 52-56.
* Klemens Kappel and Peter Sandoe, “QALYs, Age and Fairness”, Bioethics, Vol. 6
(1992), pp. 297-316.
The Role of Physicians
Blendon, Robert J. et al, "Physicians' Perspectives on Caring for Patients in the United
States, Canada and West Germany", New England J. of Medicine, Vol. 328, No. 14
(1993), 1011-1016.
Kevorkian, Jack, Prescription: Medicide (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1991), chap.
11.
Cohen-Almagor, Raphael, “A Circumscribed Plea for Voluntary Active Euthanasia and
Mercy Killings”, in The Right to Die in Dignity and Mercy Killings: An Argument in
Philosophy, Medicine and Law (forthcoming).
Roy, David J, John R. Williams and Bernard M. Dickens, Bioethics in Canada
(Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice Hall, 1994), chap. 5.
Singer, Peter A., "Should Doctors Kill Patients?", CMAJ, Vol. 138 (June 1988), pp.
1000-1001.
* Sawyer, Douglas M, John R. Williams and Frederick Lowy, "Canadian Physicians and
Euthanasia: 2. Definitions and Distinctions", Can. Med. Assoc. J., Vol. 148 (May 1993),
pp. 1463-1466.
* Elliott, Carl, “Philosophers’ Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia”, BMJ, Vol. 313 (1996),
p. 1088.
Living Wills and Advance Directives
Fisher, Rory H. and Eric M. Meslin, "Should Living Wills Be Legalized?”, Can. Med.
Assoc. J., Vol. 142 (1990), pp. 23-26.
Meslin, Eric M. and Kara Sutherland, "Advance Directive Policy in Canada: The Impact
on Older People and Their Families", in Jon Hendricks and Carolyn J. Rosenthal (eds.),
The Remainder of Their Days: Domestic Policy and Older Families in the United States
and Canada (N.Y. and London: Gerland Publishing, 1993), chap. 8.
Robertson, John, "Second Thoughts on Living Wills", Hastings Center Report, Vol. 21,
No. 6 (Nov.-Dec. 1991), pp. 6-9.
* Rasooly, Iris et al, "Hospital Policies on Life-Sustaining Treatments and Advance
Directives in Canada", Can. Med. Assoc. J., Vol. 150 (April 1994), pp. 1265-1270.
* Hughes, David L., "Family Physicians’ Attitudes Toward Advance Directives",
Canadian Medical Ass. J. (1992), 1937-1944.
The Ethics of Allocation of Scarce Resources
Callahan, Daniel, The Troubled Dream of Life (N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, 1993), pp.
198-219.
Roy, David J, John R. Williams and Bernard M. Dickens, Bioethics in Canada
(Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice Hall, 1994), chap. 14.
Cohen-Almagor, Raphael, “Ethical and Financial Considerations in Allocating Healthcare
Resources: A Comparative Analysis”, in The Right to Die in Dignity and Mercy Killings:
An Argument in Philosophy, Medicine and Law (forthcoming).
Health Care in Canada and the United States
Deber, Raisa B., "Canadian Medicare: Can it Work in the United States? Will it Survive
in Canada?", American J. of Law & Medicine, Vol. XIX, Nos. 1-2 (1993), pp. 75-93.
Lowy, Frederick H., "Restructuring Health Care: Rationing and Compromise", Humane
Medicine, Vol. 8, No. 4 (October 1992), pp. 263-267.
Singer, Peter A., "How Green Is Your Grass: A Comparative Analysis of the American
and Canadian Health Care Systems", Human Medicine, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Winter 1991), pp.
47-53.
Roy, David J, John R. Williams and Bernard M. Dickens, Bioethics in Canada
(Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice Hall, 1994), chap. 4.
CASE STUDIES
CANADA
Sue Rodriguez v. the Attorney General of Canada, File No. 23476, (September 1993).
Somerville, Margaret A., "'Death Talk' in Canada: The Rodriguez Case", McGill L. J.,
Vol. 39 (1994), pp. 602-617.
Nancy B. v. Hotel-Dieu de Quebec [1992] R.J.Q. 361, 86 D.L.R. (4th) 385 (Sup. Ct.).
Fish, Arthur et al., "Nancy B.: the Criminal Code and Decisions to Forgo Life-Sustaining
Treatment", Canadian Medical Ass. J. , Vol. 147, No. 5 (1992), pp. 637-642.
Malette v. Shulman 72 Ontario Reports (2nd Series).
* Dickens, Bernard M., "Medically Assisted Death: Nancy B. v. Hotel-Dieu de Quebec,
McGill Law Journal, Vol. 38, No. 4 (October 1993), pp. 1053-1070.
* Kluge, Eike-Henner, "Doctors, Death and Sue Rodriguez", Can. Med. Assoc. J., Vol.
148, No. 6 (1993), pp. 1015-1017.
* Mullens, Anne, "Society Must Lead in Determining Canadian Position on Euthanasia,
Doctors Say", Can. Med. Assoc. J., Vol. 148, No. 8 (1993), pp. 1363-1367.
* Singer, Peter A., and Frederick H. Lowy, "Refusal of Life-Sustaining Treatment, The
Malette Case, and Decision-Making Under Uncertainty", Annals RCPSC, Vol. 24, No. 6
(October 1991), pp. 401-403.
* Of Life and Death, Report of the Special Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted
Suicide (June 1995).
U.S.A
Matter of Quinlan, 355 A.2d 647 (1976).
Superintendent of Belchertown v. Saikewicz, Mass 370 N.E.2d 417 (1977).
In Matter of Spring, Mass. App. 399 N.E.2d 493 (1979).
Gray by Gray v. Romeo 697 F.Supp. 580 (D.R.I. 1988).
Dennis C. Vacco, Attorney General of New York et al., Petitioners v. Timothy Quill et al,
S. Ct. (June 26, 1997)
Cohen-Almagor, Raphael, "The Patients' Right to Die in Dignity and the Role of their
Beloved People", Annual Review of Law and Ethics, Vol. 4 (1996), pp. 213-232.
Cruzan v. Harmon, 760 S.W.2d 408 (Mo.banc 1988).
Cruzan v. Director Mo. Health Dept., 497 U.S. 261 (1990), 110 S.Ct. 2841.
Cohen-Almagor, Raphael, "Some Observations on Post-Coma Unawareness Patients and
on Other Forms of Unconscious Patients: Policy Proposals", Medicine and Law, Vol. 16,
No. 3 (December 1997), pp. 451-471.
* Dworkin, Ronald, "The Right to Death", The New York Review of Books, Vol.
XXXVIII, No. 3 (1991), pp. 14-17.
BRITAIN
Airedale NHS Trust v. Bland, [1993] 1 All ER.
Finnis, J.M., "Bland: Crossing the Rubicon", The Law Quarterly Rev., Vol. 109 (July
1993), pp. 329-337.
Keown, John, "Doctors and Patients: Hard Case, Bad Law, 'New' Ethics", Cambridge L.
J., Vol. 52, No. 2 (1993), pp. 209-213.
THE NETHERLANDS
van Leeuwen, Evert, and Gerrit Kimsma, “Problems Involved in the Moral Justification
of Medical Assistance in Dying: Coming to Terms with Euthanasia and Physician
Assisted Suicide”, in R. Cohen-Almagor (ed.), Medical Ethics at the Dawn of the 21st
Century (forthcoming).
Battin, Margaret P., “Voluntary Euthanasia and the Risks of Abuse: Can We Learn
Anything from the Netherlands”?, Law, Medicine and Health Care, Vol. 20, Nos. 1-2
(Spring-Summer 1992), pp. 133-143.
Griffiths, John, “Effective Regulation of Euthanasia and Other Medical Behavior that
Shortens Life”, in Ejan Mackaay (ed.), Uncertainty and the Law (Montreal: Editions
Themis, 1999), pp. 61-94.
* Battin, Margaret P., The Least Worst Death (New York: Oxford University Press,
1994).
* Fenigsen, R. “Mercy, Murder and Morality: Perspectives on Euthanasia. A Case
Against Dutch Euthanasia”, Hastings Center Report, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Supp.) (1989), pp.
22-30.
The Peter Singer Affair in Germany
Joerden, Jan C., “Peter Singer’s Theories and their Reception in Germany”, in R. CohenAlmagor (ed.), Medical Ethics at the Dawn of the 21st Century (forthcoming).
Singer, Peter, “Bioethics and Academic Freedom,” Bioethics, Vol. 4, No. 1 (January
1990), pp. 33-44.