From dispassionate law to compassionate outcomes in healthcare law, or not
From dispassionate law to compassionate outcomes in healthcare law, or not
Health-care law presents numerous challenges to the conception of the law as a dispassionate arbiter of disputes or protector of rights. Issues relating to end-of-life care, the assessment of mental capacity and decision-making for those who lack capacity, amongst others, epitomise the complex nature of health-care law. They also raise globally applicable questions about discrimination, or equal protection, as well as concerns for relief of suffering, the assessment of best interests and the exercise of individual autonomy. This paper will evaluate the extent to which law's traditional objectivity (dispassion) is undermined by the introduction of concerns about compassion into judicial and executive decisions. Focusing primarily on the law in England and Wales, but with reference to multi-jurisdictional case-law and international instruments, it will consider whether the law provides compassionate approaches and outcomes in end-of-life decision-making, and the implications of compassion for legal certainty.
healthcare law, best interests, assisted dying
172-183
Biggs, Hazel
d0d08de6-6cae-4679-964c-eac653d7722b
June 2017
Biggs, Hazel
d0d08de6-6cae-4679-964c-eac653d7722b
Biggs, Hazel
(2017)
From dispassionate law to compassionate outcomes in healthcare law, or not.
International Journal of Law in Context, 13 (Special Issue 2), .
(doi:10.1017/S1744552317000106).
Abstract
Health-care law presents numerous challenges to the conception of the law as a dispassionate arbiter of disputes or protector of rights. Issues relating to end-of-life care, the assessment of mental capacity and decision-making for those who lack capacity, amongst others, epitomise the complex nature of health-care law. They also raise globally applicable questions about discrimination, or equal protection, as well as concerns for relief of suffering, the assessment of best interests and the exercise of individual autonomy. This paper will evaluate the extent to which law's traditional objectivity (dispassion) is undermined by the introduction of concerns about compassion into judicial and executive decisions. Focusing primarily on the law in England and Wales, but with reference to multi-jurisdictional case-law and international instruments, it will consider whether the law provides compassionate approaches and outcomes in end-of-life decision-making, and the implications of compassion for legal certainty.
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Compasion Article PRE-PROOF.doc
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Accepted/In Press date: 19 December 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 12 May 2017
Published date: June 2017
Keywords:
healthcare law, best interests, assisted dying
Organisations:
Southampton Law School
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 404174
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/404174
ISSN: 1744-5523
PURE UUID: d144c566-79c2-4c1e-af71-1ee10dcc5021
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Date deposited: 16 Jan 2017 15:24
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:00
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Author:
Hazel Biggs
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