Law Commons^™

Proceeding Without Consent: The Ethics Of Disregarding Patient Preference For Paternalistic Reasons, Nicholas Munsey

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Within the last few decades, modern medical regulations have brought the practicing medical community to an unprecedented level of accountability. Laws and regulations governing the practice of medicine were once, at best, loosely enforced guidelines; practices such as experimental surgeries, dangerous health testing, end of life care, and treatment of mental illness were left comparatively unregulated. The introduction of patient rights and new standards for practicing have left the medical community with a novel dilemma: how might one approach a patient who, according to medical advice, is in need of treatment if that patient is unable to express preference or …

The Right For Autonomy, The Duty Of Disclosure And Public Health Considerations – The 2013 Polio Crisis In Israel As A Case Study, Dr. Nili Karako Eyal

Pace Law Review

Despite sharing the same theoretical framework of discussion with other papers, this paper addresses an ethical and legal issue that has received little attention in academic and public discourse: the duty of disclosure in the context of vaccinations. In particular, the paper addresses the question whether public health considerations provide a justification for restricting the duty of disclosure in the case of vaccination.

Delimitating the research question to the issue of disclosure has several implications. First, the decision to vaccinate the population with bOPV as describe above and the decision to adopt a voluntary vaccination policy are not the focus …

Guidelines For Physician-Assisted Suicide, Raphael Cohen-Almagor

raphael cohen-almagor

This paper proposes a set of guidelines for physician-assisted suicide (PAS). This set of guidelines integrates pertinent guidelines that were adopted in Oregon, where physician-assisted suicide is legal, in the Netherlands and Belgium where euthanasia is legal, in Switzerland where assisted suicide is practiced, and in the Northern Territory of Australia, where physician-assisted suicide was legal for a short period of time.

Guidelines For Physician-Assisted Suicide, Raphael Cohen-Almagor

raphael cohen-almagor

This paper proposes a set of guidelines for physician-assisted suicide (PAS). This set of guidelines integrates pertinent guidelines that were adopted in Oregon, where physician-assisted suicide is legal, in the Netherlands and Belgium where euthanasia is legal, in Switzerland where assisted suicide is practiced, and in the Northern Territory of Australia, where physician-assisted suicide was legal for a short period of time.

Respect And Dignity: A Conceptual Model For Patients In The Intensive Care Unit, Leslie Meltzer Henry, Cynda Rushton, Mary Catherine Beach, Ruth Faden

Faculty Scholarship

Although the concept of dignity is commonly invoked in clinical care, there is not widespread agreement—in either the academic literature or in everyday clinical conversations—about what dignity means. Without a framework for understanding dignity, it is difficult to determine what threatens patients’ dignity and, conversely, how to honor commitments to protect and promote it. This article aims to change that by offering the first conceptual model of dignity for patients in the intensive care unit. The conceptual model we present is based on the notion that there are three sources of patients’ dignity—their shared humanity, personal narratives, and autonomy—each of …

The Rise Of The Reproductive Brothel In The Global Economy: Some Thoughts On Reproductive Tourism, Autonomy, And Justice, April L. Cherry

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article explores some of the ethical issues raised by the rise of a global reproductive tourism model that includes “the reproductive brothel,” a place where women are gathered together in confined areas and their reproductive capacities sold to men as commodities. After exploring the phenomenon of reproductive tourism as it has developed in India, and the ways in which economic globalization has shaped the practice, the article then considers two ethical responses to the development of the practice of global commercial surrogacy; the first of which focuses on the value of autonomy (both as choice and as dignity), and …

Neuroscience And The Future Of Personhood And Responsibility, Stephen J. Morse

All Faculty Scholarship

This is a chapter in a book, Constitution 3.0: Freedom and Technological Change, edited by Jeffrey Rosen and Benjamin Wittes and published by Brookings. It considers whether likely advances in neuroscience will fundamentally alter our conceptions of human agency, of what it means to be a person, and of responsibility for action. I argue that neuroscience poses no such radical threat now and in the immediate future and it is unlikely ever to pose such a threat unless it or other sciences decisively resolve the mind-body problem. I suggest that until that happens, neuroscience might contribute to the reform of …

The Right To Die With Dignity: An Argument In Ethics And Law, Raphael Cohen-Almagor

raphael cohen-almagor

We face a dilemma. Suppose there is a person who suffers great pain and wants to die. Those who believe life is intrinsically valuable object to taking life and to taking any action on the person’s desire because the end of life is something granted only to nature, and is not a decision that is incumbent on human beings. However, this objection ignores the autonomy of the agent’s concerns, because she might say: “I would like to die. I would rather die in these circumstances because I don’t feel that I am adding anything just by surviving.” Can life be …

Monstrous Impersonation: A Critique Of Consent-Based Justifications For Hard Paternalism, Thaddeus Mason Pope

Faculty Scholarship

Restricting a person's substantially voluntary, self-regarding conduct primarily for the sake of that person is hard paternalism. Particularly in the public health context, scholars, legislators, and judges are devoting increasing attention to discussing the conditions and circumstances under which hard paternalism is justified. One popular type of argument for the justifiability of hard paternalism takes its normative warrant from the consent of the restricted person.

In this Article, I argue that scholars and policymakers should abandon consent-based arguments for the justifiability of hard paternalism. Such arguments are torn between incoherence and lacking moral force. Very few consent-based arguments successfully resolve …

Is Public Health Paternalism Really Never Justified? A Response To Joel Feinberg, Thaddeus Mason Pope

Faculty Scholarship

n the preeminent scholarly legal treatise on paternalism, The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law: Harm to Self, Joel Feinberg argues that hard paternalism is never justified because it is superfluous; all reasonable restriction of self-regarding conduct can be justified on (more palatable) soft paternalistic grounds.

In this article, I argue that Feinberg's strategy seems to work only because he "stretches" soft paternalism to justify liberty limitation that is properly described as hard paternalism. I expose Feinberg's strained appeals, and argue for honesty and transparency regarding the bases for paternalistic liberty limitation. If the rationale for public health restrictions on …

Balancing Public Health Against Individual Liberty: The Ethics Of Smoking Regulations, Thaddeus Mason Pope

Faculty Scholarship

Ten years ago, philosopher Robert E. Goodin published "No Smoking: The Ethical Issues." Goodin argued that the liberty of smokers can be justifiably limited for two reasons: to prevent harm to third persons and to prevent harm to smokers themselves under circumstances which make their decision to smoke substantially non-autonomous. In this article Thaddeus Pope reexamines the harm principle and the soft paternalism principle in light of more recent legal developments, gives them additional content, and carefully demarcates the justificatory scope of each. Pope also defines and defends a third liberty-limiting principle, hard paternalism, arguing that the liberty of smokers …

A Nursing Perspective On End-Of-Life Care: Research And Policy Issues, Linda E. Moody, June Lunney, Patricia A. Grady

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of A Mentally Ill Individual's Right To Refuse Medication Under The United States And The New York State Constitutions, William M. Brooks

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.