How the right to die undermines autonomy

In an article published in the journal Ethics, Medicine & Public Health, Dr Kevin Yuill explicates the libertarian case against assisted dying. He argues that there is a broad discussion throughout many countries in the West about whether or not assisted suicide/dying will increase human happiness by decreasing suffering. Understandably, many of the articles address the issue from a medical standpoint but, at the same time, they assume that freedom will increase with legalization. Kevin's article is critical of that assumption and shows that the individual autonomy purportedly increased by assisted suicide will in fact decrease. This article stresses the dangers to general freedoms that will accompany a law that sets objective criteria for suicide, which is a subjective decision.

Yuill, K. 2015. The unfreedom of assisted suicide: How the right to die undermines autonomy.
Ethics, Medicine & Public Health 1(4): 494-502.

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