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The Role of Institutional and Community Based Ethics Committees in the Debate on Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2009

Robert L. Schwartz  and
Thomasine Kushner
Robert L. Schwartz
Affiliation:
professor of Law at the Institute of Public Law, University of New Mexico School of Law, Albuquerque.
Thomasine Kushner
Affiliation:
professor of Law at the Institute of Public Law, University of New Mexico School of Law, Albuquerque.
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Extract

In many countries the debate over the role that physicians may (or should) play in ending life has been limited to the judiciary and other law making institutions, professional medical organizations; and academics. Because of their multidisciplinary and diverse membership, ethics committees may be a particularly appropriate venue through which these discussions can be expanded to include a much larger community. In addition, ethics committees generally act in only advisory capacities because they do not actually make decisions, so they may provide a forum for open discussions in ways that the court and the medical boards (which make licensing determinations) cannot.

Type
Special Section: Physician-Aided Death: The Escalating Debate
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , Winter 1996 , pp. 121 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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