Assisted Death

L.W. Sumner explores the ethical and legal status of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, and argues powerfully that these forms of assisted death can claim the same justification as other widely accepted end-of-life practices. He surveys the opposing views and legal precedents, and develops a model regulatory policy for assisted death.

L.W. Sumner is University Professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He is the author of four books: Abortion and Moral Theory (1981); The Moral Foundation of Rights (1987); Welfare, Ethics, and Happiness (1996); and The Hateful and the Obscene: Studies in the Limits of Free Expression (2004). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and recipient of the 2009 Molson Prize in Social Sciences and Humanities from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Preface
1: Prologue
I: Ethics
2: Consent and Refusal
3: Indirect Death
4: Death by Request
5: Deciding for Others
II: Law
6: The Legal Landscape
7: From Prohibition to Regulation
8: Epilogue
Cases Cited
Works Cited
Index