The Law of Life and Death - Hardcover

Foley, Elizabeth Price

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674051041 ISBN 13: 9780674051041

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2011

Synopsis

Are you alive? What makes you so sure? Most people believe this question has a clear answer―that some law defines our status as living (or not) for all purposes. But they are dead wrong. In this pioneering study, Elizabeth Price Foley examines the many, and surprisingly ambiguous, legal definitions of what counts as human life and death.

Foley reveals that “not being dead” is not necessarily the same as being alive, in the eyes of the law. People, pre-viable fetuses, and post-viable fetuses have different sets of legal rights, which explains the law's seemingly inconsistent approach to stem cell research, in vitro fertilization, frozen embryos, in utero embryos, contraception, abortion, homicide, and wrongful death.

In a detailed analysis that is sure to be controversial, Foley shows how the need for more organ transplants and the need to conserve health care resources are exerting steady pressure to expand the legal definition of death. As a result, death is being declared faster than ever before. The "right to die," Foley worries, may be morphing slowly into an obligation to die.

Foley’s balanced, accessible chapters explore the most contentious legal issues of our time―including cryogenics, feticide, abortion, physician-assisted suicide, brain death, vegetative and minimally conscious states, informed consent, and advance directives―across constitutional, contract, tort, property, and criminal law. Ultimately, she suggests, the inconsistencies and ambiguities in U.S. laws governing life and death may be culturally, and perhaps even psychologically, necessary for an enormous and diverse country like ours.

About this title

About the Author:

Elizabeth Price Foley is the Institute for Justice Chair in Constitutional Litigation and Professor of Law, Florida International University College of Law.

Review:

Choice Reviews, Editor's Picks:
"'Are you alive?' Thus begins this intriguing book that examines the legal relationship between life and death. . . . [Foley's] engaging, accessible writing style highly recommends the book for classroom use and library collections. . . . Highly recommended. All readership levels. -- S. Behuniak, Le Moyne College

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0674051041
• ISBN 13: 9780674051041
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304