Ethics in the Life Sciences – Expert reports by the DRZE; Volume 11
Torsten Verrel / Alfred Simon

Published by the DRZE – German Reference Centre for Ethics in the Life Sciences under the responsibility of Dieter Sturma, Dirk Lanzerath and Bert Heinrichs

On September 1st, 2009, the „Dritte Gesetz zur Änderung des Betreuungsrechts“ came into force. With this law, the instrument of the living will is being regulated for the first time.

Living wills are to safeguard the fundamental right to self-determination in situations where the patient’s faculty of judgment has vanished. By means of living wills, persons react in advance to the possibility of getting into an unbearable situation caused by medical treatment of specific diseases or injuries. In such cases, at the time of drawing up a living will, persons prefer death and aim at preventing a prolongation of life through medical intervention. However, it often proves to be difficult to adequately take account of protection of life, self-determination as well as care. Living wills are, in general, not suited to suspend these difficulties; they are nevertheless an important instrument to arrange the dialogue between patients, relatives, doctors and nursing staff in a more binding way.

The present volume documents the new legal situation both in its formation and its practical impacts from a legal as well as an ethical point of view.

ISBN: 978-3-495-48437-1

Publisher: Verlag Karl Alber, Freiburg

Year of publication: 2010

Price: € 15,- (paperback)

Pages: 112, German (21,4 x 13,9 cm)