Is death ever preferable to life? / by Ian N. Olver.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"This is an original contribution to the much debated area of the value that we should place on human life. With the euthanasia issue highlighted in the public arena this book argues for a non-absolutist highest value on life ethic and how that fits with society's current emphasis on individual autonomy. Not only are the arguments for and against placing a highest value on life explored but the way of arguing particularly the use of slippery slopes is discussed. By the use of everyday examples the impact of placing a high value on life is explored. A futuristic intensive care ward round illustrates the ethical and resource issues with which we would be challenged in adopting a highest value on life policy for medical decisions." "This book will be useful for students of ethics, nursing and medicine as well as those engaged in the public debate on euthanasia."--Jacket.

Ch. 1. In the Beginning -- Defining Death -- Regarding Life -- The Relative Value of Life and Individual Autonomy -- Slippery Slopes -- Rationing Health Resources -- Ch. 2. The Definition of Death -- Biological Approach to Death -- Heart-lung Death -- Brain Death Criteria -- Lower Brain Death -- Upper Brain Death -- Anencephaly -- A Hierarchy of Organ Deaths -- Personhood -- Application of the Hierarchy of Orgain Deaths -- Respect for Dead Bodies -- Ch. 3. Death Relative to Life -- The Value of Life -- The Inability to Create Life -- Comparing Life to Death -- Death as Foreclosure of Life's Options -- Acts and Omissions -- The Principle of Double Effect -- Ordinary and Extraordinary Means -- Defending Life on Top of the Hierarchy of Values -- Ch. 4. Autonomy and Life or Death Decisions -- Ranking Autonomy and Quality of Life -- Whose Life is it Anyway? -- What is an Autonomous Decision? -- Voluntariness -- Intentionality -- Effective Deliberation -- Authenticity -- Moral Reflection -- Autonomy Requires Life -- Mill's Paradox in Defending Autonomy -- Occurrent and Dispositional Autonomy -- Autonomy as a Right -- HVL and Making an Autonomous Decision to Die -- Mill's Bridge Example -- Delaying a Decision -- Re-education or Coercion -- HVL vs An Autonomous Decision to Die -- Ch. 5. Slippery Slopes and Life and Death -- Slippery Slope Arguments -- Sorites Slippery Slope Arguments -- Causal Slippery Slope Arguments -- Precedent Slippery Slope Arguments -- Combined Slippery Slope Arguments in Bioethical Debate -- The Case of Nazi Germany -- Slippery Slopes and the Definition of Death -- Slippery Slopes at the End of Life -- Respect for the Dead and Slippery Slopes -- Respecting the Wishes of the Dead -- Slippery Slopes and the Sanctity of Life Doctrine -- A Slippery Slope Between Passive and Active Euthanasia? -- Legalising Euthanasia and Intolerable Circumstances -- What Do We Mean By Bad Results? -- Euthanasia and the Precedent Slippery Slope -- Euthanasia and the Causal Slippery Slope -- Boundaries to Slippery Slopes -- Autonomy and Slippery Slopes -- Conclusions -- Ch. 6. Limited Resources Limiting Life? -- Distribution of Resources -- Distributive Justice -- Libertarian Theories of Justice -- Utilitarian Theory and Distributive Justice -- QALY's -- The Oregon Plan -- Triage -- Egalitarian Theories and Resource Allocation -- Rawls's Theory of Justice -- HVL and Health Distribution Policies -- HVL and Distributive Justice for Health Care -- Health Resource Allocation as a Constraint on HVL -- Should Clinicians Have a Dual Role? -- Conclusions -- Ch. 7. Future Ethics -- Intensive Care Ward Round -- Case Studies and HVL Policy -- Is Death Ever Preferable to Life?