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Historical Review of Advance Directives

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Advance Directives

Part of the book series: International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine ((LIME,volume 54))

Abstract

As medicine progresses, many people are increasingly concerned about being dependent on physicians in times of severe illness. The wish to influence future medical treatment, and especially to refuse measures such as mechanical ventilation, artificial nutrition and cardiopulmonary resuscitation in certain situations, led to the development of advance directives. These provide instructions for situations in which the patient is no longer able to consent to or refuse medical treatment. Various kinds of advance directives were developed in the US in the 1970s and 1980s, and subsequently also in other countries. Today, regulations governing the validity and legal authority of advance directives exist in the US and in many European countries. The fact that these regulations differ widely reflects the varying importance attached by different countries to patient autonomy, on the one hand, and the obligation of physicians or the state to provide care and protect human life, on the other.

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Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Linda Hüllbrock for assistance with translation and Bernd Alt-Epping for constructive criticism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Academy for Ethics in Medicine, Göttingen, Germany

    Alfred Simon

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  1. Alfred Simon
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Correspondence to Alfred Simon .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Moral Theology and Ethics, University of Fribourg, Basel, Switzerland

    Peter Lack

  2. Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Nikola Biller-Andorno

  3. Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Susanne Brauer

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Simon, A. (2014). Historical Review of Advance Directives. In: Lack, P., Biller-Andorno, N., Brauer, S. (eds) Advance Directives. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 54. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7377-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7377-6_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7376-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7377-6

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