Journal of medical ethics
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Abstract ethics mostly focuses on what we do. One form of action is a speech act. What we say can have profound effects. ⋯ To complicate matters, there can be moral reasons for overriding what is good for the patient. What kind of admonishments should we make to a badly behaved patient? What is the value of authenticity in our communication with the people we love? These questions demand an ethical defence of those speech acts which are painful to hear but which need to be said, and of those which go wrong despite the best efforts of the wellwisher. We offer an ethical account, identifying permissible and impermissible justifications for the things we say to a person with a serious injury or illness.
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Journal of medical ethics · Jan 2006
ReviewMr Marty's muddle: a superficial and selective case for euthanasia in Europe.
In April 2004 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe debated a report from its Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee (the Marty Report), which questioned the Council of Europe's opposition to legalising euthanasia. This article exposes the Report's flaws, not least its superficiality and selectivity.