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Journal of Medical Ethics 2006;32:608-611
Copyright © 2006 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & Institute of Medical Ethics.

Research ethics

Respecting rights ... to death

N Levy

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
N Levy
Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, University of Melbourne, Parkville 3010, Australia; nllevy@unimelb.edu.au

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Ravelingien et al1 argue that, given the restrictions that must be imposed on recipients of xenotransplanted organs, we should conduct clinical trials of xenotransplantation only on patients in a persistent vegetative state. I argue that there is no ethical barrier to using terminally ill patients instead. Such patients can choose to waive their rights to the liberties that xenotransplantation would probably restrict; it is surely rational to prefer to waive your rights rather than to die, and permissible to allow patients to make this choice.

Perhaps the single most important advance in the history of moral thought occurred when it came to be generally recognised that all people are protected by rights that are inviolable, at least without their consent. The precise nature and content of these rights is controversial, but there is a consensus among reasonable people over their core. We all have a right to life, to liberty, . . . [Full text of this article]

A Ravelingien1, J Braeckman1, F Mortier2, E Mortier3 and I Kerremans3

1 Department of Philosophy, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
2 Centre for Environmental Philosophy and Bioethics, Ghent University
3 University Hospital, Ghent

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
A Ravelingien
Department of Philosophy, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium; an.ravelingien@ugent.be


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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Bishop, J. P. (2008). Biopolitics, Terri Schiavo, and the Sovereign Subject of Death. J Med Philos 0: jhn029v1-jhn029 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Levy, N, Ravelingien, A, Braeckman, J, Mortier, F, Mortier, E, Kerremans, I (2006). Respecting rights ... to death.. J. Med. Ethics 32: 608-611 [Full Text]  

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