Advance Directives and the Pursuit of Death with Dignity (Medical Ethics) [Hardcover]

Norman L. Cantor (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 025331304X | ISBN-13: 978-0253313041 | Publication Date: October 22, 1993

"[Cantor provides] both a cogent and provocative text and prodigious references." —The New England Journal of Medicine

"Cantor develops a careful and accessible ethic of autonomy and dignity regarding forgoing life-prolonging medical treatment... " —Ethics

"A thoughtful, informative and sensitive text... " —European Medical Journal

"Professor Cantor of Rutgers University School of Law has created a scholarly and sophisticated, yet quite accessible, legal analysis of the subject of advance directives... detailed, exhaustively referenced... " —The Florida Bar Journal

"This book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning about advance directives for health care." —Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal

"Cantor provides a very thorough, reliable, and readable guide... " —Robert M. Veatch, Director, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University

Cantor examines the medical, legal, and moral issues surrounding advance medical directives—those devices aimed at controlling medical intervention during the dying process after the patient is no longer competent.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

NORMAN L. CANTOR is Professor of Law and Justice Nathan L. Jacobs Scholar at Rutgers University School of Law, Newark, and is also a member of the Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University. He served as an advisor to counsel in the Karen Ann Quinlan case and as advisor to the New Jersey Bioethics Committee. He is author of Legal Frontiers of Death and Dying and numerous law journal articles covering legal aspects of death and dying.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (October 22, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 025331304X
• ISBN-13: 978-0253313041
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,270,565 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Medical Books > Medicine > Euthanasia

More About the Author

Norman Cantor is Professor of Law Emeritus and Nathan Jacobs Scholar Emeritus at Rutgers University School of Law, Newark. He has been widely published in legal and medical journals on the topic of the legal handling of dying medical patients and has 3 prior books in that field.

Norman Cantor's latest book is "After We Die: The Life and Times of the Human Cadaver." (AWD). AWD explores the physical, legal and moral constraints applicable to various means of disposal of human remains. The book was named runner up for the American Publishers' Association's
2010 PROSE award for excellence in the field of Law and Legal Studies.

AWD examines control of a cadaver with regard not only to mode and place of disposition of remains, but also to use of cadaveric body parts in education, research, tissue transplant, and procreation. AWD ascribes enforceable rights to the insentient cadaver, not just to survivors reacting to what is happening to a corpse. One such right is to have a deceased's prior choices upheld, and AWD urges advance planning for enhancing the ultimate impact of a life via productive cadaver roles in medical education, scientific research, and tissue transplantation.

AWD was reviewed in the Nov. 18, 2010, New York Journal of Books by Dr. Daniel A. Graubert, a retired physician and the former Director of
Interventional Pain Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The reviewer praises the book's "fascinating anecdotes" and "interesting stories" presented in a "light" writing style. The review concludes:
"After We Die is a fascinating study of cadavers, presented in great detail. It is aimed at readers with an interest in serious books about bio-ethics and medico-legal controversies. * * * Although the legal and medical issues are dealt with in quite a bit of detail, they are presented in a way that makes them accessible to those who don't necessarily have expertise in the fields. Although death is a universal experience, few of us have looked beyond the simple choice between burial and cremation. For those who share the author's curiosity, Mr. Cantor has provided an informative, thorough, and often entertaining explication of the fate of our bodies."

As to moral standing of cadavers, AWD analyses the "quasi-human" status attributed to remains and the protections therefore accorded to cadavers. The book reflects on the limits that "post-mortem human dignity" poses on disposal choices by either a decedent or an agent entitled to make final dispositions.

Professor Cantor is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University and a magna cum laude graduate of Columbia Law School. He has served as a visiting professor at Columbia University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Seton Hall Law School, and Tel Aviv University. He currently divides his time between Hoboken NJ and Tel Aviv.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars ADVANCE DIRECTIVES FOR MEDICAL CARE, August 11, 2010

By 

James L. Park "James Leonard Park" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Advance Directives and the Pursuit of Death with Dignity (Medical Ethics) (Hardcover)

Norman L. Cantor
Advance Directives and the Pursuit of Death with Dignity

(Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1993) 209 pages

An excellent book on Advance Directives from a legal point of view.
The author is a professor of law, who had a hand in drafting
New Jersey's model legislation for Advance Directives,
which might be the most comprehensive and liberal in the United States.
The book includes criticisms of the limitations
of 'living will' laws in several states and suggests improvements.
Dr. Cantor includes his own Advance Directive,
which focuses mainly on the loss of dignity as the test for deciding
when to withdraw or withhold further life-sustaining measures.
The book also presents some imaginary cases
in which proxies might consider overriding an Advance Directive.

Some other major themes:

(1) autonomy in medical decision-making
for the competent and the incompetent;

(2) proxy's powers to interpret and enforce Advance Directives;

(3) possible problems encountered in making end-of-life decisions
and how to avoid them, for instance,
what to do if a doctor or hospital has principles or policies
that run counter to the requests in an Advance Directive;

(4) deciding for patients who have become mentally confused
and have forgotten their reasons for making their Advance Directives
and now 'decide' that they want to live under diminished circumstances.

This book raises and answers a number of legal questions that
persons writing comprehensive Advance Directives should consider.

If you would like to read my reviews of other books on Advance Directives,
search the Internet for this exact phrase:
"Books on Advance Directives for Medical Care".

James Leonard Park, medical ethicist