The WHO’s definition of “health,” formulated in 1948, reads: ‘A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. Worldwide there is and was discussion about it. Continue reading Unbridled Care
autonomy
Participation, Care and Support
The research group Participation, Care and Support is part of the Research Centre for Social Innovation of Utrecht University for Applied Sciences. This is a transdisciplinary research centre, doing practice based research focused on relevant social issues, connecting different fields like social work, care, law, employment, policy and organisation. In the centre, around 125 researchers are active Continue reading Participation, Care and Support
Questioning the Dutch political discourse regarding ‘completed life’
Should the state facilitate assisted suicide when someone develops a death wish on account of the prospect of needing a wheelchair? And what should the response be when, if it involves a couple, one of the two partners has this prospect and will likely need to move to a nursing home, so that the couple can no longer live together as before? Should there be a state-regulated organization to fulfil their shared wish to die? Continue reading Questioning the Dutch political discourse regarding ‘completed life’
Rethinking critical reflection on care
Is the ethics of care approach, critical as it is with regard to Modernity, aware of late Modernity, with its paradoxes of Modernity, e.g.: “thou shalt be autonomous”? Care ethicists Frans Vosman and Alistair Niemijer recently published an article inMedicine, Health Care and Philosophy, on this issue. It is time for a next step in care ethics. This article outlines this next step. Continue reading Rethinking critical reflection on care
Nine misunderstandings regarding ‘completed life’
In 2017, a member of the Dutch House of Representatives – Ms Pia Dijkstra – published a legislative proposal under the right of initiative. The proposed act carries the name ‘Wet toetsing levenseindebegeleiding van ouderen op verzoek’ (‘Termination of Life on Request by the Elderly [Review Procedures] Act), and is popularly referred to as the ‘completed life act’. Continue reading Nine misunderstandings regarding ‘completed life’
Alistair Niemeijer about his PhD thesis ‘Surveilling Autonomy, Securing Care’
Surveillance technologies (ST) such as video surveillance, GPS tags and movement sensors are increasingly being used in residential care for vulnerable people, even though they raise various concerns. What does morally good care with surveillance technologies entail? Continue reading Alistair Niemeijer about his PhD thesis ‘Surveilling Autonomy, Securing Care’