Böcker av John Keown

How cogent is the 'slippery slope' objection to the issue of whether voluntary euthanasia is permissible? Is it reasonable to argue that patients who did not make a free and informed request would be killed? This lucid introduction to this question will interest all on both sides of the debate.

The principle of the sanctity of life is key to the law governing medical practice and professional medical ethics. It is also widely misunderstood. This book clarifies the principle and considers how it influences the law governing abortion; 'test-tube' babies; euthanasia; feeding patients in persistent vegetative states; and palliative treatment.

Ranging from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the 1980s, this book focusses on the evolution of the law and medical practice of abortion in England. Dr Keown considers the performance of abortion by doctors, and the influence the medical profession had on the restriction of the law in the nineteenth century and on its relaxation in the twentieth.