Institutional Conscientious Objection and Voluntary Assisted Dying
Lester David Cusack1, Queensland University of Technology 1Queensland University of Technology
Abstract
Terminally ill patients now have the legal right to request voluntary assisted dying (VAD) services in all Australian states.
Some health care institutions refuse to provide, or permit their staff to offer, VAD services.
The institutional refusal is generally founded on moral objections. This refusal is sometimes called ‘institutional conscientious objection’. Often, but not always, these health care institutions are faith-based or faith-directed bodies.
It has been established (in Australia and well as in other jurisdictions) that the inability of terminally ill patients to access VAD services in refusing institutions may lead to unnecessary patient suffering.
This research examines institutional conscientious objection from philosophical and jurisprudential points of view. It critiques whether, with reference to VAD in Australia, institutions have a right to a conscientious objection and the properties of such a right. The moral dilemma posed by VAD is evaluated by means of Scanlonian Contractualism.
The research aims to make a contribution to understanding the nature, role, and limits of institutional conscientious objection to VAD and how it ought to be regarded by policy makers, law reformers, and institutions in Australia.
Biography
Bio to come