Legitimizing the shameful: end-of-life ethics and the political economy of death.
This paper explores one of the most politically sensitive and intellectually neglected issues in bioethics--the interface between the history of contemporary end-of-life ethics and the economics of life and death. It suggests that contrary to general belief, economic impulses have increasingly become part of the conditions in which contemporary end-of-life ethics continues to evolve. Although this conclusion does not refute the philosophical justifications provided by the ethics for itself, it may cast new light upon its social role.
Epstein
Miran
M
Academic Unit for Human Science and Medical Ethics, St. Bartholomew's and The Royal London Hospital School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, 40 Turner St., London E1 2AD, United Kingdom. m.epstein@qmul.ac.uk
D001675:Bioethics; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D011057:Politics; D012297:Right to Die / Q000941:ethics*; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006113:United Kingdom