Advance Directives

Download or read book Advance Directives written by Peter Lack and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-10-21 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume gives an overview on the currently debated ethical issues regarding advance directives from an international perspective. It focuses on a wider understanding of the known and widely accepted concept of patient self-determination for future situations. Although advance directives have been widely discussed since the 1980s, the ethical bases of advance directives still remain a matter of heated debates. The book aims to contribute to these controversial debates by integrating fundamental ethical issues on advance directives with practical matters of their implementation. Cultural, national and professional differences in how advance directives are understood by health care professions and by patients, as well as in laws and regulations, are pinpointed.