Law and the Life Sciences

tic. Further, allowing him to act on his desire preserves his independence. Here it is clear that the patient is not choosing death but rather avoiding the consequences of treatment. The issue is sharpened in the case of the terminally ill. If biological life is medicine's goal, then the patient should be kept alive as long as possible. If the preservation of autonomy is the goal of medicine, then one must do everything possible to maintain the integrity of the person in the face of death. To medicine, as to mankind, death should not matter, life matters

Palliative care · Political science · Terminally ill · Ethics in medical practice · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology