Voluntary Assisted Dying: Law? Health? Justice? by Daniel J. Fleming and David J. Carter Since the introduction of voluntary assisted dying in 2019, a 'new moment' in the governance of life and death has opened up within the Australian context. This new moment demands new questions be asked regarding the regime and its effects in this new era for law, health care and justice. This collection brings together critical perspectives on voluntary assisted dying itself, and on various practices adjacent to it, including questions of state power, population ageing, the differential treatment of human and non-human animals at the time of death, the management of health care processes through silent ‘workarounds’, and the financialisation of death. This book provides an overview of the first Australian regime, and then introduces these diverse critical views, broadening our engagement with euthanasia and voluntary assisted dying beyond the limited, but important, debates about law reform and its particular enactment in Australia.

Euthanasia, Ethics and the Law: From Conflict to Compromise by Richard Huxtable Euthanasia, Ethics and the Law argues that the law governing the ending of life in England and Wales is unclear, confused and often contradictory. The book shows that the rules are in competition because the ethical principles underlying the rules are also diverse and conflicting. In mounting his case Richard Huxtable considers some familiar and topical debates, including assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia, examining such situations as the Dianne Pretty litigation and Lord Joffe's Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill. The book also enters some important, but less well-charted areas, looking at the advent of 'death tourism' and the real status of involuntary and passive euthanasia in English law, in addition to clarifying the confusion that surrounds the use of powerful painkillers like morphine. Dealing with both legal and ethical issues, the text concludes that the time has come to more openly adopt a compromise positionnbsp;- one that more honestly recognises and accommodates the competing values, whilst also restoring a measure of coherence to the law.

Intention and Causation in Medical Non-Killing: The Impact of Criminal Law Concepts on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide by Glenys Williams Analyzing the concepts of intention and causation in euthanasia, this timely new book explores a broad selection of disciplines, including criminal and medical law, medical ethics, philosophy and social policy and suggests an alternative solution to the one currently used by the courts, based on grading different categories of killing into a formalized justificatory defence. Thisnbsp;text explores how culpability, blameworthiness and liability are ascribed and how ascertaining mens rea and actus reus are problematic in an end-of-life decision-making scenario. Williams criticizes the way the courts rely so exclusively on the criminal concepts of intention and causation in such medical scenarios and examines and raises awareness of the inadequate and inappropriate legal framework within in which judges have to operate. Topical and compelling, this significant contribution argues for a more open and honest approach which would, in turn, provide the certainty, consistency and equality required by the law. This is a quintessential read for all students studying medical and healthcare law and the legal aspects of health and medicine.

The Right to Be Protected from Committing Suicide by Jonathan Herring This book argues that suicidal people have the right to receive treatment and for reasonable steps to be taken that they are protected from killing themselves. Those suffering threats to life from mental health issues deserve the same protection as those who face threats to life from ill health or violence from others. The book explores the ethical and legal case for giving those beset with suicidal thoughts the treatment they need and for reasonable steps to be taken to prevent them attempting suicide. Debates around suicide tend to be dominated by cases involving those with terminal medical conditions seeking assisted dying. But of those wishing to die, it is far more common to find middle aged men and young people oppressed by mental health and personal problems. Too often the woeful failure in the funding of mental health services in the UK means that suicidal people are denied the support and help they desperately need. This ground-breaking book makes the legal and ethical case for recognising that the state and public authorities have a duty to provide and implement an effective suicide prevention strategy.

Euthanasia and Law in Europe: With Special Reference to the Netherlands and Belgium by John Griffiths; Heleen Weyers; Maurice Adams This book is a successor to J Griffiths, A Bood and H Weyers, Euthanasia and Law in the Netherlands (Amsterdam University Press 1998) which was widely praised for its thoroughness, clarity, and accuracy. The new book emphasises recent legal developments and new research, and has been expanded to include a full treatment of Belgium, where since 2002 euthanasia has also become legal. The book also includes descriptions written by local specialists of the legal situation and what is known about actual practice in a number of other European countries (England and Wales, France, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain, Switzerland). The book strives for as complete and dispassionate a description of the situation as possible. It covers in detail: - the substantive law applicable to euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, withholding and withdrawing treatment, use of pain relief in potentially lethal doses, palliative and terminal sedation, and termination of life without a request (in particular in the case of newborn babies); -the process of legal development that has led to the current state of the law; -the system of legal control and its operation in practice; -the results of empirical research concerning actual medical practice. A concluding part deals with some general questions that arise out of the material presented: Is the legalisation of euthanasia an example of the decline of law or should it, on the contrary, be seen as part and parcel of the increasing juridification of the doctor-patient relationship? Does the Dutch experience with legalised euthanasia support the idea of a 'slippery slope' toward a situation in which life-especially of the more vulnerable members of society-is less effectively protected? Is it possible to explain and to predict when a society will decide to legalise euthanasia?

Euthanasia As Privileged Compassion by Martin Buijsen This Element overviews developments and issues in Dutch euthanasia practice. Following an outline of the history of the Dutch Euthanasia Act and a survey of the most critical trends and figures, some current issues are explored in depth: euthanasia and incompetency, euthanasia by nonphysicians, and euthanasia for those who consider their lives completed. This Element is intended for a general readership, including undergraduate students in law, medicine, or ethics. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Introduction to Swiss Law by Marc Thommen What are the origins of direct democracy in Switzerland? How does the Swiss judiciary function? What are the principles of Swiss civil, contract and administrative law? What is the role of public service broadcasting in the political decision making process? What are the leading cases in tax law? What forms of euthanasia are legal in Switzerland? In this introduction 13 legal scholars of the University of Zürich Law Faculty try to answer these questions and give the reader an overview of Swiss public, private and criminal law.

Courting Death: the Law of Mortality by Desmond Manderson This collection deals with complex issues relating to death such as 'mercy killings', the 'right to die' and murder. the relationship will always be controversial. This timely and provocative collection brings together scholars from Australia, Britain and the US.