Author
Helga Kuhse
Bio: Helga Kuhse is an academic researcher from Centre for Human Bioethics. The author has contributed to research in topics: Bioethics & Sanctity of life. The author has an hindex of 18, co-authored 62 publications receiving 1687 citations.
Topics: Bioethics, Sanctity of life, Letting die, Medical ethics, Best interests
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
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01 Jan 2001
TL;DR: A companion to bioethics, A companion to Bioethics as mentioned in this paper, a companion to the bioethic, and a companion of the humanist movement in the 21st century.
Abstract: A companion to bioethics , A companion to bioethics , کتابخانه مرکزی دانشگاه علوم پزشکی تهران
271 citations
TL;DR: Singer and Kuhse as mentioned in this paper presented a philosophical analysis of the subject based on particular case studies, and proposed a decision-making framework that offers a rational alternative to the polemics and confusion generated by this highly controversial topic.
Abstract: Few subjects have generated so many newspaper headlines and such heated controversy as the treatment, or non-treatment, of handicapped newborns. In 1982, the case of Baby Doe, a child born with Down's syndrome, stirred up a national debate in the United States, while in Britain a year earlier, Dr. Leonard Arthur stood trial for his decision to allow a baby with Down's syndrome to die. Government intervention and these recent legal battles accentuate the need for a reassessment of the complex issues involved. This volume--by two authorities on medical ethics--presents a philosophical analysis of the subject based on particular case studies. Addressing the doctrine of the absolute sanctity of life, Singer and Kuhse examine some actual cases where decisions have been reached; consider the criteria for making these decisions; investigate the differences between killing and letting die; compare Western attitudes and practices with those of other cultures; and conclude by proposing a decision-making framework that offers a rational alternative to the polemics and confusion generated by this highly controversial topic.
192 citations
01 Jan 1987
TL;DR: Kuhse as discussed by the authors argues against the traditional view that allowing someone to die is morally different from killing, and shows that quality-of-life judgements are ubiquitous, and argues that there is a profound difference between merely being alive and life being in a patient's interest.
Abstract: Unprecedented advances in medicine's ability to sustain life raise troubling questions of whether all human lives, irrespective of quality or kind, should always be prolonged, or whether there are times when a patient should be allowed - or helped - to die. In this book, which examines the ideas and assumptions behind this view, Helga Kuhse argues against the traditional view that allowing someone to die is morally different from killing, and shows that quality-of-life judgements are ubiquitous. The author urges us to reject the sanctity-of-life view and provides a sketch of a quality-of-life ethics based on the belief that there is a profound difference between merely being alive and life being in a patient's interest. The book is a comprehensive critique of the "sanctity-of-life" doctrine in medicine. It shows that the doctrine is flawed and leads to indefensible practical consequences - such as the making of life and death decisions on morally irrelevant grounds. Philosophers with a particular interest in ethics, doctors, and theologians should all find the book of interest.
144 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1999TL;DR: The expanded and revised edition of Bioethics: An Anthology is a definitive one-volume collection of key primary texts for the study of bioethics that brings together writings on a broad range of ethical issues relating to such matters as reproduction, genetics, life and death, and animal experimentation.
Abstract: Product Description: The expanded and revised edition of Bioethics: An Anthology is a definitive one-volume collection of key primary texts for the study of bioethics. -Brings together writings on a broad range of ethical issues relating such matters as reproduction, genetics, life and death, and animal experimentation. -Now includes introductions to each of the sections. -Features new coverage of the latest debates on hot topics such as genetic screening, the use of embryonic human stem cells, and resource allocation between patients. -The selections are independent of any particular approach to bioethics. -Can be used as a source book to complement A Companion to Bioethics (1999).
124 citations
TL;DR: A survey of the attitudes and practices of doctors in Victoria with respect to requests for active help in dying from patients who were suffering from a terminal or incurable disease indicates that a clear majority of those who responded to the questionnaire support active voluntary euthanasia.
Abstract: We report the results of a survey of the attitudes and practices of doctors in Victoria with respect to requests for active help in dying from patients who were suffering from a terminal or incurable disease. Questionnaires were sent to 2000 Victorian doctors who had been selected at random, 869 of whom returned completed questionnaires. The survey indicates that a clear majority of those who responded to the questionnaire support active voluntary euthanasia and that many doctors have provided active help in dying. Forty per cent of doctors indicated that they would practise active voluntary euthanasia if it were legal. We compare the results of our survey with a recent telephone survey of British general practitioners.
119 citations
Cited by
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01 Jan 1982
Abstract: Introduction 1. Woman's Place in Man's Life Cycle 2. Images of Relationship 3. Concepts of Self and Morality 4. Crisis and Transition 5. Women's Rights and Women's Judgment 6. Visions of Maturity References Index of Study Participants General Index
7,539 citations
6,977 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a judge in some representative American jurisdiction is assumed to accept the main uncontroversial constitutive and regulative rules of the law in his jurisdiction and to follow earlier decisions of their court or higher courts whose rationale, as l
Abstract: 1.. HARD CASES 5. Legal Rights A. Legislation . . . We might therefore do well to consider how a philosophical judge might develop, in appropriate cases, theories of what legislative purpose and legal principles require. We shall find that he would construct these theories in the same manner as a philosophical referee would construct the character of a game. I have invented, for this purpose, a lawyer of superhuman skill, learning, patience and acumen, whom I shall call Hercules. I suppose that Hercules is a judge in some representative American jurisdiction. I assume that he accepts the main uncontroversial constitutive and regulative rules of the law in his jurisdiction. He accepts, that is, that statutes have the general power to create and extinguish legal rights, and that judges have the general duty to follow earlier decisions of their court or higher courts whose rationale, as l
2,050 citations
1,991 citations
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TL;DR: In the trinity of births, marriages, and deaths, only death does not have glossy magazines devoted to stylish consumption at the attendant ceremonies.
Abstract: Death is the new sex, last great taboo in Western society and Western medicine, as Richard Smith discusses in his editorial (p 129). In the trinity of births, marriages, and deaths, only death does not have glossy magazines devoted to stylish consumption at the attendant ceremonies. On the web, of course, …
1,764 citations