Law Commons^™

America As Pattern And Problem, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

Since the days of Tocqueville, foreign observers have seen America as both a pattern and a problem. They still do, and in ways that illuminate the way law deals with bioethical issues both here and abroad. America was long exceptional in having a written constitution, in allowing its courts the power of judicial review, and in letting courts exercise that power to develop and enforce principles of human rights. Today, that pattern looks markedly less exceptional. After the Second World War, Germany and Japan were persuaded to adopt constitutions that included human rights provisions and that endowed courts with the …

Changing Attitudes Toward Euthanasia, Alice V. Mehling

IUSTITIA

Death is a very individual matter which does not readily lend itself to collective decision. Medical ethicists frequently conclude that to allow a person to die from malice is more reprehensible than to help a person to die from mercy. The most striking change which is taking place in consideration of the problem is recognition of the need to reinforce the patient's right to decide on the course of medical treatment.

A New York Times editorial of February 3, 1903 condemned the practice of active euthanasia by comparing it to "practices of savages in all parts of the world". Seventy …