Abstract
The comparison of biomedical expert discourse in Germany and Israel reveals interesting differences in how patients’ autonomy and doctors’ duties are morally and legally related to each other with respect to the withholding and withdrawing of medical treatment in end-of-life situations. While Israel is more restrictive in relation to Germany regarding patient’s autonomy, this difference is not only formed by contrasting value orientations, but also due to different expert cultures. The relative permissiveness of Germany in the context of end-of-life can be seen to represent different social conceptions of the doctor’s duty, with a German emphasis on doctors’ duty to respect the self-determination of patients and an Israeli focus on doctors’ duty to respect the sanctity of life.
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Notes
- 1.
See Drittes Gesetz zur Änderung des Betreuungsrechts, in: Bundesgesetzblatt 2009 I, 48:2286−2287. http://www.bgbl.de/xaver/bgbl/start.xav?startbk=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl&jumpTo=bgbl109s2286.pdf. Accessed 03 Aug 2015.
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Raz, A.E., Schicktanz, S. (2016). Planning One’s End of Life in an Expert Biomedical Culture. In: Comparative Empirical Bioethics: Dilemmas of Genetic Testing and Euthanasia in Israel and Germany. SpringerBriefs in Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32733-4_6
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