The purpose this study was to explore the relationship between counseling mental health practitioners’ attitudes toward euthanasia and their ethical decision making levels when confronted with clients facing end-of-life concerns. A review of literature indicated a series of complex ethical, moral, and societal issues surrounding clients’ right-to-die issues. Because of the lack of research in the counseling field and the growing prevalence of right-to-die issues with clients who have a diagnosis of a terminal illness, more research in the counseling field is needed (Hadjistavropoulos, 1996; Winograd, 2012). Participants for the present study were recruited from six state divisions of the American Counseling Association; Alabama, Louisiana, North Dakota, Maryland, Vermont, and Utah. Two multiple regressions were conducted in addition to one correlation and one MANOVA. One multiple regression was conducted using EDMS-R ans the dependent variable and one multiple regression was conducted using ATE overall score as the dependent variable. The Independent variables used were years in practice, gender, state, and religion. The dependent variables used were participant EDMS-R score and participant ATE score. Variables were chosen to examine variability accounted for in ATE and EDMS-R participant scores. Findings from this small study indicated that counselors’ years in practice, gender, state, and religion accounted for more of the variability in their beliefs about euthanasia (13.5) than their ethical decision making levels (2.7). Also, counselors’ religion had the greatest effect on participants’ ATE overall scores and on their EDMS-R P index scores. Counselors’ ATE overall scores as well as their both active and passive scores were all shown to be correlated to their P index scores with their ATE active scores exhibiting the strongest correlation and their ATE passive score exhibiting the weakest correlation. Future research suggestions include assessing counselors’ religion in more depth, and focusing on the other demographic variables in the study, as well as conducting an initial qualitative study to provide insight from individual participants as opposed to assessing a large group of participants.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Kiel, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. xiii-xxxiii).

Žmogaus teisės yra prigimtinės asmens teisės, priklausančios be išimties ir vienodai kiekvienam žmogui. Teisė į gyvybę yra svarbiausia žmogaus prigimtinė teisė, nes ji apsaugo individo biologinį procesą be kurio nebūtų įmanomas jo egzistavimas. Tačiau nėra sutariama dėl to, ar ši teisė yra neatimama žmogaus teisė, kurios pats žmogus, net būdamas nepagydomas ligonis ir kentėdamas nežmoniškas fizines kančias, negali atsisakyti; ar ši teisė gali būti aiškinama ir kaip leidžianti žmogui pačiam spręsti, ar įgyvendinti jam priklausančią teisę į gyvybę, ar savanoriškai atsisakyti jos. Vieningai sutariama, jog teisė į gyvybę yra svarbiausia ir fundamentaliausia žmogaus teisė, tačiau visos žmogaus teisės yra tarpusavyje susiję ir negali būti dalomos. „Teisės į mirtį“ šalininkai valstybės draudimą dėl eutanazijos ar asistuotos savižudybės dažniausiai laiko tokių žmogaus teisių, kaip teisės į autonomiją ir elgesio laisvę, teisės į privatumą bei teisės į orumą pažeidimu. Tokiu „teisės į mirtį“ teisiniu pagrindu remiasi ir ją legalizavusios šalys. Tačiau „teisės į mirtį“ legitimumas yra žmogaus svarbiausios ir fundamentaliausios prigimtinės teisės pažeidimas, kuris yra identifikuojamas ir plačiau analizuojamas šiame darbe. Jau antikos laikais buvo svarstoma apie gyvybės, kaip teisinės vertybės, svarbą. Didieji antikos filosofai savižudybės idėją smerkė. Hipokrato priesaikoje yra aiškiai nustatomas asmens gyvybės neliečiamumas. Vėliau, Vakarų kultūroje įsigaliojus krikščionybei, gyvybės... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Human rights are inherent rights of individual, the implementation of which forms human worldview, helps him to develop and grow as a person. Person acquires these rights from birth not only as inalienable conditions of the existence, but also as worth of life and aim. The right to life is the most important human natural right, because it protects the individual’s biological process and the human existence would not be possible without it. For this reason the state is obliged to ensure the person protection of life, i.e. laws should determine responsibility for a man’s homicide. However, there is no consensus on, is this right inalienable human right and man by himself, even being terminally ill and suffering serious physical throes, can not refuse it, or can we interpret this right as allowing a person by himself to decide or to implement his right to life, or voluntary surrender of it. There is unanimous agreement that the right to life is the most important and most fundamental human right, because without it implementation of other human rights and freedoms would not be possible. The right to life is consolidated in documents of the universal and regional human rights protection. In order to emphasize its importance, in these documents it is regulated in the beginning of articles. „Right to die” protagonists for the most part suppose that the state’s ban on euthanasia or assisted suicide is the breach of human rights, such as the right to autonomy and freedom of behavior... [to full text]

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-78).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2004. / Title from title page screen (viewed Feb. 10, 2005). Thesis advisor: James J. Neutens. Document formatted into pages (x, 154 p.). Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 120-128).

Law / LL.M.

Os avanços científicos na área médica favorecem cada vez mais a preservação e a manutenção da vida humana por meios artificiais. Nesse sentido, destaca-se a importância do preparo do profissional da área da saúde para vivenciar situações que envolvem temas polêmicos como a eutanásia. Julga-se relevante também que estes profissionais embasem suas escolhas e ações em conhecimentos que vão para além do tecnocientífico, uma vez que a interdisciplinaridade proporciona um cuidado cada vez mais qualificado. A conjugação de áreas distintas, como a da saúde com o conhecimento filosófico, oferece a possibilidade de refletir de maneira mais profunda acerca de temas que até então eram abordados apenas no campo tecnocientífico. Assim, objetiva-se analisar a eutanásia voluntária sob a perspectiva e os princípios da ética utilitarista, a fim de fornecer aos profissionais da área da saúde uma abordagem da eutanásia para além do campo tecnocientífico. Trata-se de uma pesquisa bibliográfica de caráter analítico-descritivo. Explicita-se conceitos relevantes como os tipos de eutanásia e questões como liberdade e autonomia humanas, sempre analisando tais conceitos sob a ótica utilitarista. Com a presente pesquisa tem-se como finalidade, por meio da interdisciplinaridade, contribuir para o aprimoramento dos profissionais da área da saúde, uma vez que acredita-se que quanto mais qualificado for tal profissional, melhor será o cuidado oferecido pelo mesmo ao ser enfermo, especialmente àquele que vivencia o processo de morte. / Submitted by Ana Guimarães Pereira (agpereir@ucs.br) on 2014-09-26T14:17:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Merlim Fachini.pdf: 764493 bytes, checksum: f834eef01d0560d0b911795e293a006b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-09-26T14:17:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Merlim Fachini.pdf: 764493 bytes, checksum: f834eef01d0560d0b911795e293a006b (MD5) / The scientific advances in the medical field increasingly favor the preservation and maintenance of human life by artificial means. In this sense, we highlight the importance of the preparation of the healthcare professional to experience situations involving controversial issues such as euthanasia. It is believed that these professionals also support their choices and actions in knowledge that goes beyond the Techno-scientific field, since the interdisciplinary approach provides an increasingly qualified care. The combination of different fields, such as health with philosophical knowledge, offers the possibility to reflect more deeply on topics that were previously covered only in the technoscientific field. This way, the objetive of this work is to analyze voluntary euthanasia from the perspective and principles of utilitarian ethics, in order to provide the healthcare professionals with an approach that goes beyond the technoscientific field. It is a literature research of descriptive-analytical character. It clarifies relevant concepts such as euthanasia and human freedom and autonomy, always analyzing these concepts from an utilitarian perspective. The present work has the purpose of contributing to the improvement of healthcare professionals through an interdisciplinary approach, since it is believed that the more qualified a professional is, the better the care provided by the same will be, especially if the patient is going through the dying process.

Os avanços científicos na área médica favorecem cada vez mais a preservação e a manutenção da vida humana por meios artificiais. Nesse sentido, destaca-se a importância do preparo do profissional da área da saúde para vivenciar situações que envolvem temas polêmicos como a eutanásia. Julga-se relevante também que estes profissionais embasem suas escolhas e ações em conhecimentos que vão para além do tecnocientífico, uma vez que a interdisciplinaridade proporciona um cuidado cada vez mais qualificado. A conjugação de áreas distintas, como a da saúde com o conhecimento filosófico, oferece a possibilidade de refletir de maneira mais profunda acerca de temas que até então eram abordados apenas no campo tecnocientífico. Assim, objetiva-se analisar a eutanásia voluntária sob a perspectiva e os princípios da ética utilitarista, a fim de fornecer aos profissionais da área da saúde uma abordagem da eutanásia para além do campo tecnocientífico. Trata-se de uma pesquisa bibliográfica de caráter analítico-descritivo. Explicita-se conceitos relevantes como os tipos de eutanásia e questões como liberdade e autonomia humanas, sempre analisando tais conceitos sob a ótica utilitarista. Com a presente pesquisa tem-se como finalidade, por meio da interdisciplinaridade, contribuir para o aprimoramento dos profissionais da área da saúde, uma vez que acredita-se que quanto mais qualificado for tal profissional, melhor será o cuidado oferecido pelo mesmo ao ser enfermo, especialmente àquele que vivencia o processo de morte. / The scientific advances in the medical field increasingly favor the preservation and maintenance of human life by artificial means. In this sense, we highlight the importance of the preparation of the healthcare professional to experience situations involving controversial issues such as euthanasia. It is believed that these professionals also support their choices and actions in knowledge that goes beyond the Techno-scientific field, since the interdisciplinary approach provides an increasingly qualified care. The combination of different fields, such as health with philosophical knowledge, offers the possibility to reflect more deeply on topics that were previously covered only in the technoscientific field. This way, the objetive of this work is to analyze voluntary euthanasia from the perspective and principles of utilitarian ethics, in order to provide the healthcare professionals with an approach that goes beyond the technoscientific field. It is a literature research of descriptive-analytical character. It clarifies relevant concepts such as euthanasia and human freedom and autonomy, always analyzing these concepts from an utilitarian perspective. The present work has the purpose of contributing to the improvement of healthcare professionals through an interdisciplinary approach, since it is believed that the more qualified a professional is, the better the care provided by the same will be, especially if the patient is going through the dying process.

The contemporary juridico-political and bioethical debate over physician assisted dying has emerged as one of the most divisive of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Commonly strained through Western conceptions of individual rights and near ubiquitous calls for the respect an abstractly defined human dignity, popular discourse on assisted dying tends to promote universal understandings of both human beings as well as ethical, legal, moral action. This thesis, however, holds these debates in abeyance preferring rather to explore the ways in which the possibility of an assisted death creates a more meaningful dying space for many Canadian advocates. And though I cannot answer for everyone, for many of the 24 individuals I spent months interviewing, “hanging out” with and generally following around to various meetings/training sessions, the assisted death is not some nihilistic response to the suffering of our materially bounded/feeling bodies, but a contemporary recurrence of a deeply spiritual, relational and artful dying.

What does «the right to live the process of dying with dignity» mean in Spanish law?Different recent regulatory developments in Spanish legal system are analyzed in this article concerning person’s rights at the end of its life. In particular, the author attempts to explain the enigmatic sense of the new expression “the right to live the process of dying with dignity” and beyond its current configuration as a “legal” right—more than a constitutional one—. Also attempts to catalogue it as a new fundamental right. / Se analizan en este texto diversos desarrollos normativos recientes en el ordenamiento jurídico español respecto de los derechos de la persona en el tramo final de su vida. En particular, se intenta aclarar el enigmático sentido de la emergente expresión «derecho a vivir con dignidad el proceso de la muerte» y, más allá de su actual configuración como derecho «legal» más que «constitucional», su posible catalogación como nuevo derecho fundamental.