CLINICAL ETHICS GRAND ROUNDS

Sponsored by the UK Program for Bioethics 

Setting Your Own Expiration Date: Challenges to the Death with Dignity Laws

Presented by:

Joseph L. Verheijde, PhD, MBA, PT

Associate Professor of Biomedical Ethics, College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic

Abstract:

Several patients over the years have used Death with Dignity laws to "set their own expiration dates."  One recent case involved a nurse in the United Kingdom who decided she had lived long enough and did not want to risk living without quality of life as she got older.  She arranged for her own assisted suicide when she was in perfect health.  Dr. Verheijde will explore the freedoms and limits of autonomy surrounding death with dignity laws.

Objectives:

Indicate a legal and moral context for the “Right to Die” and subsequent “Rational Suicide” claim.

Discuss the meaning of “dignity” and “autonomy” in the “death with dignity” narrative.

Discuss the question of rational suicide.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016 

Noon-1:00pm, MN-363 Auditorium

Lunch provided by the UK Program for Bioethics.