Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Comparative Empirical Bioethics: Dilemmas of Genetic Testing and Euthanasia in Israel and Germany pp 67–80Cite as

Planning One’s End of Life in an Expert Biomedical Culture

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 275 Accesses

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Ethics ((BRIEFSETHIC))

Abstract

The comparison of biomedical expert discourse in Germany and Israel reveals interesting differences in how patients’ autonomy and doctors’ duties are morally and legally related to each other with respect to the withholding and withdrawing of medical treatment in end-of-life situations. While Israel is more restrictive in relation to Germany regarding patient’s autonomy, this difference is not only formed by contrasting value orientations, but also due to different expert cultures. The relative permissiveness of Germany in the context of end-of-life can be seen to represent different social conceptions of the doctor’s duty, with a German emphasis on doctors’ duty to respect the self-determination of patients and an Israeli focus on doctors’ duty to respect the sanctity of life.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    See Drittes Gesetz zur Änderung des Betreuungsrechts, in: Bundesgesetzblatt 2009 I, 48:2286−2287. http://www.bgbl.de/xaver/bgbl/start.xav?startbk=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl&jumpTo=bgbl109s2286.pdf. Accessed 03 Aug 2015.

References

  • Ach JS, Gaidt A (2000) Wehret den Anfängen? Anmerkungen zum Argument der „schiefen Ebene“ in der gegenwärtigen Euthanasie-Debatte. In: Frewer A, Eickhoff C (eds) Euthanasie und die aktuelle Sterbehilfe-Debatte. Die historischen Hintergründe medizinischer Ethik, Campus, Frankfurt, pp 424–447

    Google Scholar 

  • Barilan YM (2004) Is the clock ticking for terminally ill patients in Israel? Preliminary comment on a proposal for a bill of rights for the terminally ill. J Med Ethics 30:353–357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barilan YM (2012) Human dignity, human rights, and responsibility. The new language of global bioethics and biolaw. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Butcher T (2005) Israelis to be allowed euthanasia by machine. The Telegraph, 8 Dec. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1505018/Israelis-to-be-allowed-euthanasia-by-machine.html. Accessed 15 Jul 2015

  • Callahan D (1989) Killing and allowing to die. Hastings Cent Rep 19:5–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Caplan A (2013) Brain test results don’t mean Ariel Sharon will “come back,” bioethicist says. NBC News, Jan 29. http://www.nbcnews.com/health/brain-test-results-dont-mean-ariel-sharon-will-come-back-1B8167234. Accessed 27 Jul 2015

  • Frieß M (2008) Komm süßer Tod. Europa auf dem Weg zur Euthanasie? Zur theologischen Akzeptanz von assistiertem Suizid und aktiver Sterbehilfe. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  • Ganz F, Benbenishty J, Hersch M et al (2006) The impact of regional culture on intensive care end of life decision making: an Israeli perspective from the ETHICUS study. J Med Ethics 32:196–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glick S (1999) The Jewish approach to living and dying. In: Pellegrino ED, Faden AI (eds) Jewish and Catholic bioethics: an ecumenical dialogue. Georgetown University Press, Washington, pp 43–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottweis H, Prainsack B (2006) Emotion in political discourse: contrasting approaches to stem cell governance in the US, UK, Israel and Germany. Regen Med 1:823–829

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green RM (1999) Jewish teaching on the sanctity and quality of life. In: Pellegrino ED, Faden AI (eds) Jewish and Catholic bioethics: an ecumenical dialogue. Georgetown University Press, Washington, pp 25–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Gross ML, Ravitsky V (2003) Israel: bioethics in a Jewish-democratic state. Camb Q Healthc Ethics 12:3247–3255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haimes E, Williams R (2007) Sociology, ethics, and the priority of the particular: learning from a case study of genetic deliberations. Br J Sociol 58(3):457–476

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hashiloni-Dolev Y (2007) A life (un)worthy of living: reproductive genetics in Israel and Germany. Springer, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Howard-Snyder F (2011) Doing vs. allowing harm. In: Zalta EN (ed) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2011/entries/doing-allowing. Accessed 27 Jul 2015

  • Inbari P, Gil Y (2013) Scharons langer Weg in den Tod. Focus Online, 21 Jan. http://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/nahost/report-scharons-langer-weg-in-den-tod_aid_896832.html. Accessed 27 Jul 2015

  • Jacobi T, May AT, Kielstein R et al (2005) Ratgeber Patientenverfügung: vorgedacht oder selbstverfasst?. LIT Verlag, Münster

    Google Scholar 

  • Jotkowitz AB, Glick S (2009) The Israeli terminally ill patient law of 2005. J Palliat Care 25(4):284–288

    Google Scholar 

  • Kongregation für die Glaubenslehre (1980) Erklärung der Kongregation für die Glaubenslehre zur Euthanasie. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19800505_euthanasia_ge.html. Accessed 27 Jul 2015

  • Kravitz LS (2006) “Some” reflections on Jewish tradition and the end-of-life patient. In: Hurwitz P, Picard J, Steinberg A (eds) Jewish ethics and the care of end-of-life patients: a collection of rabbinical, bioethical, philosophical and juristic opinions. KTAV, Jersey City, pp 75–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Kröner HP (2001) „Euthanasie“: von der Sterbebegleitung zum Krankenmord. In: Hucklenbroich P, Gelhaus P (eds) Tod und Sterben: medizinische Perspektiven. LIT Verlag, Münster, pp 87–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Lepping P (2007) Ethical analysis of the new proposed mental health legislation in England and Wales. Philos Ethics Humanit Med 2:5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nadel SH (2014) Physician-assisted suicide and the struggle for the soul of the state of Israel. The Jerusalem Post, 18 Jun. http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Physician-assisted-suicide-and-the-struggle-for-the-soul-of-the-State-of-Israel-359823. Accessed 03 Aug 2015

  • National Ethics Council (2005) The advance directive: an instrument of self-determination. Opinion report. Berlin. http://www.ethikrat.org/files/Opinion_advance-directive.pdf. Accessed 27 Jul 2015

  • National Ethics Council (2006) Self-determination and care at the end of life. Opinion report. Berlin. http://www.ethikrat.org/files/Opinion_end-of-life_care.pdf. Accessed 27 Jul 2015

  • Public Committee on Matters concerning the Terminally Ill Patient (2006) The report of the public committee on matters concerning the terminally ill patient. Draft law: the terminally ill patient, 5762—2002. In: Hurwitz P, Picard J, Steinberg A (eds) Jewish ethics and the care of end-of-life patients: a collection of rabbinical, bioethical, philosophical and juristic opinions. KTAV, Jersey City, pp 207–242

    Google Scholar 

  • Ravitsky V (2005) Timers on ventilators. BMJ 330:415–417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ravitsky V (2006) Dying with dignity in a Jewish-democratic state. In: Hurwitz P, Picard J, Steinberg A (eds) Jewish ethics and the care of end-of-life patients: a collection of rabbinical, bioethical, philosophical and juristic opinions. KTAV, Jersey City, pp 105–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Raz A (2004) “Important to test, important to support”: attitudes toward disability rights and prenatal diagnosis among leaders of support groups for genetic disorders in Israel. Soc Sci Med 59(9):1857–1866

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schardien S (2007) Sterbehilfe als Herausforderung für die Kirchen. Güterser Verlagshaus, Gütersloh

    Google Scholar 

  • Schicktanz S, Raz A, Shalev C (2010a) The cultural context of end-of-life ethics: a comparison of Germany and Israel. Camb Q Healthc Ethics 19(3):381–394

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schicktanz S, Raz A, Shalev C (2010b) The cultural context of patient’s autonomy and doctor’s duty: passive euthanasia and advance directives in Germany and Israel. Med Health Care and Philos 13(4):363–369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmuhl HW (2000) Nationalsozialismus als Argument im aktuellen Medizinethik-Diskurs. Eine Zwischenbilanz. In: Frewer A, Eickhoff C (eds) Euthanasie und die aktuelle Sterbehilfe-Debatte. Die historischen Hintergründe medizinischer Ethik. Campus, Frankfurt, pp 385–407

    Google Scholar 

  • Shalev C (2000) Paternalism and autonomy in end-of-life decision-making: the Israeli normative ambivalence. Israel Yearbook on Human Rights 29:121–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Shalev C (2009) End-of-life care in Israel—the dying patient law, 2005. Isr Law Rev 42(2):279–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shalev C (2010) Reclaiming the patient’s voice and spirit in dying: an insight from Israel. Bioethics 24(3):134–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shapira A (2006) Law and bioethics in Israel: between liberal ethical values and Jewish religious norms. J Int Bioethique 17:115–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simon J (2010) Ariel Sharon. Noam Braslavsky. Solo exhibition: press release. http://www.kishongallery.com/pressrelease.php?id=59. Accessed 15 Jul 2015

  • Steinberg A (2006) A law proposal in Israel regarding the patient at the end of life. In: Hurwitz P, Picard J, Steinberg A (eds) Jewish ethics and the care of end-of-life patients: a collection of rabbinical, bioethical, philosophical and juristic opinions. KTAV, Jersey City, pp 99–104

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinbock B, Norcross A (eds) (1994) Killing and letting die, 2nd edn. Fordham University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner L (2005) From the local to the global: bioethics and the concept of culture. J Med Philos 30:305–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wertz DC, Fletcher JC (eds) (1989) Ethics and human genetics: a cross cultural perspective. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiesing U, Jox RJ, Hessler HJ et al (2010) A new law on advance directives in Germany. J Med Ethics 36(12):779–783

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel

    Aviad E. Raz

  2. University Medical Center, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Silke Schicktanz

Authors
  1. Aviad E. Raz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Silke Schicktanz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aviad E. Raz .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Raz, A.E., Schicktanz, S. (2016). Planning One’s End of Life in an Expert Biomedical Culture. In: Comparative Empirical Bioethics: Dilemmas of Genetic Testing and Euthanasia in Israel and Germany. SpringerBriefs in Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32733-4_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation