Paradox of choice and the illusion of autonomy: The construction of ethical subjects in right-to-die activism

The right to die is an issue is predicated on larger cultural understandings of autonomy. Autonomy, in turn, is centered around assumptions of choice, that individuals are able to make health-related decisions based on a rational calculation. In such a way, a medically assisted death is differentiat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDeath studies Vol. 42; no. 5; pp. 329 - 335
Main Author Gandsman, Ari
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Taylor & Francis LLC 28.05.2018
Subjects
Assisted suicide
Ethics
Medical ethics
Right to die
autonomy
end of life
good deaths
activism
right to die
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Summary:The right to die is an issue is predicated on larger cultural understandings of autonomy. Autonomy, in turn, is centered around assumptions of choice, that individuals are able to make health-related decisions based on a rational calculation. In such a way, a medically assisted death is differentiated from suicide. Through an ethnographic study of right to die activists in North America and Australia and how they understand ideals of "good deaths," this article will complicate this view by examining the ethical subject constructed by such activism that reveals autonomy to be a useful guiding fiction that mask larger ethical relationships.
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ISSN:0748-1187
1091-7683
1091-7683
DOI:10.1080/07481187.2017.1396646