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’
suffering
Refugees in search of hospitality
Europe is currently being confronted with thousands of refugees in search of hospitality. Continue reading Refugees in search of hospitality
Elderly people, ‘completed lives’, and ‘assisted dying’
The back cover text of Els van Wijngaarden’s dissertation Ready to give up on life goes as follows. Older people who consider their lives to be ‘completed’, who suffer from the prospect of having to live on and therefore prefer a self-chosen death: it’s not a new issue. What is relatively new, though, is the current Dutch debate about whether we should legalize, facilitate and institutionalize assisted dying in such cases. Continue reading Elderly people, ‘completed lives’, and ‘assisted dying’
Empirically grounded ethics of care
Ethics of care – with its emphasis on care instead of fairness, relationships instead of rules, conflicting responsibilities instead of competing rights, contextual and narrative thinking instead of formal and abstract thinking – originates in the empirical research of Carol Gilligan and her co-workers. Continue reading Empirically grounded ethics of care