At the beginning and end of life
a meditation on the subtle hoax of matter
pp. 41-63
in: , A critical examination of ethics in health care and biomedical research, Berlin, Springer, 2015Abstract
During the early stages of medical ethics, it had become apparent that physicians were not only 'supposed to pronounce "death"," but in view of the landmark 1973 U. S. Supreme Court decision about abortion, (Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.CT. 705 (1973)) also "to pronounce "life""—or as the physician, André Hellegers, said at the time, the physician should "be capable of doing so" (Hellegers A, Perkins School Theol J 27(1, Fall):11, 1973). What troubled Dr. Hellegers and others was that "life" was not usually understood in public and legal discussions in the way doctors did, but in largely "unscientific" ways: as "personal" and not "biological" life.