Brauer
Fakultäten » Medizinische Fakultät » Biomedizinische Ethik, Institut für » Prof. Dr. Nikola Biller-Andorno » Brauer
Completed research project
| Title / Titel | Advance Directives: Autonomy and its limits | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | In this project we will investigate advance directives as a form of patient's right to self-determination. Our general approach is to regard the living will as a social phenomenon. Although a living will stems from the decision-making process of a single person, this person, nevertheless, stands within social relations that are constitutive to his or her identity and self-understanding as autonomous person. Moreover, a living will has consequences for others and might demand of them various difficult tasks such as making conflicting decisions, bearing the cost of long-term care, or facing the loss of the patient earlier than desired. In our research we will employ two perspectives. Firstly, we will examine different forms of advance directives in Switzerland (empirical research). We specially pay attention to the role of realtives and closed persons in these forms. Secondly, from a philosophical perspective, we will clarify the conditions that need to be fulfilled in order to consider a living will as a legitimate instrument for extending the autonomy of a person into a stage in her life, in which she is not capable of making autonomous choices.The empirical and philosophical perspectives will be brought together by asking whether the reasons for the seldom use of living wills in Switzerland have conceptual consequences for an ethical framework regarding advance directives. A third brench of the project is to explore a cross-cultural perspective on advance directives. This goal is to be achieved in various steps. In November 2007 we brought together anthropologist, bioethicists, philosophers, theologists and laywers to reflect on the conceptual ground of advance directives, foremost on the issues of autonomy and personal identity in a two-days workshop. (http://www.ethik.uzh.ch/ibme/veranstaltungsarchiv.html). In June 2008 we convened, together with Roberto Andorno, an Exploratory Workshop on advance directives from a cross-cultural perspective, funded by the European Science Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation, and the University Research Priority Programme. We invited researchers from 19 European countries and the USA to debate on the possibility to find a European consensus on regulations and practices involving advance directives (http://www.ethik.uzh.ch/ibme/veranstaltungsarchiv.html) In September 2008 we then chaired a major session on advance directives from a cross- cultural perspective at the 9thWorld Congress of Bioethics in Rijeka. Invited speakers came from Japan, South Korea, USA and Pakistan. In March 2010 we will be guest editors of a special issue of Bioethics concerning advance directives from a cross-cultural perspective. |
||||
| Publications / Publikationen | Herausgeberschaft: „Zwischen Selbsterklärung und Selbstbestimmung – Patientenverfügung im kulturellen Kontext“, hg. S. Brauer, C. Wiesemann, N. Biller-Andorno. Themenband Ethik in der Medizin, Vol. 20, Nr. 3, (2008).Artikel: „Die Autonomiekonzeption in Patientenverfügungen – Die Rolle von Persönlichkeit und sozialen Beziehungen“ In: Brauer et. al. (2008), S. 230-239. „Patientenverfügungen als Ausdruck individualistischer Selbstbestimmung? Die Rolle der Angehörigen in Patientenverfügungsformularen“ by C. Zellweger, S. Brauer, C. Geth and N. Biller-Andorno. In: Brauer et al. (2008) S. 201-212. „Selbstbestimmung und Selbstverständnis – Themenschwerpunkte im Umgang mit der Patientenverfügung“ by S. Brauer, C. Wiesemann and N. Biller-Andorno. In: Brauer et.al. (2008), S. 166-168. „Der Begriff der Person im Kontext einer kulturübergreifenden Bioethik“, in: Gibt es eine universale Bioethik? ed. N. Biller-Andorno, A. Schulz-Baldes, P. Schaber, Paderborn: Mentis (2008). „Die Patientenverfügung in der Schweiz“, in Bioethica Forum (2007) No. 55, Dezember, S. 26-28.Weitere Informationen |
||||
| Keywords / Suchbegriffe | biomedical ethics, living will, advance directives, autonomy, personal identity, dementia, long-term care | ||||
| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
|
||||
| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
Universität Zürich (position pursuing an academic career) University Research Priority Programme (URPP) for Ethics / Universitärer Forschungsschwerpunkt (UFSP) Ethik (April 2006 - March 2008) |
||||
| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | Apr 2006 to Mar 2010 |