Matters of Life and Death (Paperback)

Paperback. A thoughtful examination of dignity at the end of life and the ethical limits of choice in modern medicine. For most of human history, death was shaped by circumstance, custom, and human presence. Today, it is increasingly mediated by medicine, law, and the language of choice. Our expanding capacity to prolong life and manage dying has outstripped the moral habits that once helped us make sense of such moments. What confronts us now is not only the question of what may be done, or what is permitted, but also how moral responsibility is borne when knowledge is partial and responsibility is dispersed. Resisting moral certainty and procedural comfort, Stephanie O'Connor considers what is revealed and obscured when complex situations are reduced to questions of choice or rights alone. Considering dignity as a guiding moral concern at the limits of life, and drawing on healthcare ethics, case law, and contemporary debates-including those surrounding assisted dying and artificial intelligence-this book examines how decisions made under conditions of vulnerability are shaped not only by autonomy and consent, but also by dependence, unequal power, and institutional practice. Acutely attentive to the tensions that exist between compassion and restraint, as well as personal agency and shared responsibility, O'Connor does not propose solutions or offer moral closure. Instead, she asks what is owed: to those whose lives are ending, to those who care for them, and to the fragile shared moral life that binds personal decisions to their public consequences. Stephanie OConnor considers dignity as a guiding moral concern at the limits of life. Drawing on healthcare ethics, case law, and contemporary debates surrounding assisted dying and artificial intelligence, she examines how decisions made are shaped not only by autonomy and consent, but by dependence, unequal power, and institutional practice. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…