Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-2009
Department 1
Philosophy
Abstract
Physicians and nurses caring for terminally ill patients are expected to center their moral concerns almost exclusively on the needs and welfare of the dying patient and the patients family. But what about the relationship of traditional medical ethics to the emerging new theories of environmental ethics, like deep ecology? As we glide into the twenty-first century, can anyone seriously doubt that the mounting global concerns of environmental ethics will eventually influence the ethics of medicine too?
For example, suppose physicians were to integrate the core values of an ecocentric environmental ethic like deep ecology into contemporary North American norms of healthcare for the dying. How would this shift affect the attitudes and treatment decisions of caregivers toward the terminally ill? Specifically, would the medical community’s adoption of the deep ecology ethic help or hurt the interests of the dying and their families? [excerpt]
Copyright Note
This is the publisher's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
ISBN/ISSN
9780195313826
Version
Version of Record
Recommended Citation
Carrick, Paul. "Deep Ecology and End-of-Life Care." In Contemporary Bioethics: A Reader with Cases, edited by Jessica Pierce and George Randels, 704-713. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Required Publisher's Statement
The original text can be found on the publisher's website: https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/contemporary-bioethics-9780195313826?cc=us&lang=en&