The Law and Bioethics of End-of-Life Decisions

The Law and Bioethics of End-of-Life Decisions addresses the legal, ethical and philosophical issues surrounding end-of-life decisions, including assisted dying, palliative care and withdrawal of treatment. As well as including a report focusing on the European approach to the topic, a wide range of national perspectives are provided, focusing on national legal systems and their relation to international human rights law. Each report introduces the reader to the national case law and ethical considerations, such as the determination of capacity, underpinning values and moral standards.

Furthermore, the book explains the overarching principles relevant to medical and bioethical decision-making, such as respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and the broad arguments common to debates on these issues, such as paternalism versus autonomy, the sanctity of life, human dignity and the influence of religion on end-of-life decisions.

The general rapporteurs draw together the different approaches to paint a broad picture of the topic, highlighting the similarities and divergences of the various national approaches.

About the Editors

Raluca Bercea is a professor at the Faculty of Law of the West University in Timișoara, Romania, where she teaches international protection of human rights, European Union law and comparative law. She is the director of the first bilingual BA programme in Romania, in European and international law, established in 2023 at the Law Faculty of the West University in Timișoara, as part of the UNITA European Universities Alliance. Since 2021, she has jointly supervised PhD students in European law with professors from France and Italy. She was a visiting professor at the Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne University. She is a lawyer and the director of the local institute for lawyers’ training.

Angelika Reichstein obtained her PhD in human rights law from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, in 2015. She is a lecturer in criminal law and medical law at the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, with a research interest in matters surrounding the right to life—specifically, a right to die—and the human rights of prisoners. She was awarded a prestigious research grant to carry out a study on ageing and dying in prison in 2018. In 2021, her paper on a right to die for prisoners received an Emerald Literati Award for Outstanding Paper. 

Andreea Vertes-Olteanu is an associate professor at the Faculty of Law of the West University in Timișoara, Romania, where she teaches constitutional law, European Union internet law, ethics and legal language. She is the author of 12 Topics of Constitutional Law (C.H. Beck, 2019) and also has an interest in comparative and interdisciplinary aspects (law and literature, legal education and bioethics).

List of Rapporteurs

With a General Report by Raluca Bercea (West University in Timișoara, Romania), Angelika Reichstein (University of East Anglia, United Kingdom) and Andreea Verteș-Olteanu (West University in Timișoara, Romania), and Special Reports by Regis Aubry (University Hospital of Besançon, France), Christian Byk (Paris Court of Appeal, France), Martin Buijsen (Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands), Albina Candian (University of Milan, Italy), María Alejandra Correa de Baumeister (Universidad Central de Venezuela), Ding Chunayn (City University of Hong Kong), Mihály Filó (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary), Gilles Genicot (University of Liège, Belgium), Jenny Gesley (Law Library of Congress, United States), Guan Jian-Qiang (East China University of Political Science and Law, China), Jorge Nicolás Lafferriere (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina), Nicholas Léger-Riopel (Université de Moncton, Canada), Luka Mišič (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), James A.R. Nafziger (Willamette University College of Law, United States), Ergun Özsunay (Kadir Has University, Turkey), Laura Rizko (Université de Moncton, Canada), Graciela Rodriguez Ferrand (Law Library of Congress, United States), Janne Rothmar Herrmann (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), İpek Sevda Söğüt (Özyeğin University, Turkey), Petr Šustek (Charles University Prague, Czech Republic), Martin Šolc (Charles University Prague, Czech Republic), François Vialla (University of Montpellier, France), Monika Wałachowska (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland), Bettina Weisser (University of Cologne, Germany) and Debra Wilson (University of Canterbury, New Zealand).