| Active euthanasia in pre-modern society, 1500-1800: learned debates and popular practices. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 18605325 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Historians of medical ethics have found that active euthanasia, in the sense of intentionally hastening the death of terminally-ill patients, was considered unacceptable in the Christian West before the 1870s. This paper presents a range of early modern texts on the issue which reflect a learned awareness of practices designed to shorten the lives of dying patients which were widely accepted among the lay public. Depriving the dying abruptly of their head-rest or placing them flat on the cold floor may strike us as merely symbolic today, but early moderns associated such measures with very concrete and immediate effects. In this sense, the intentional hastening of death in agonising patients had an accepted place in pre-modern popular culture. These practices must, however, be put into their proper context. Death was perceived more as a transition to the after-life and contemporary notions of dying could make even outright suffocation appear as an act of compassion which merely helped the soul depart from the body at the divinely ordained hour of death. The paper concludes with a brief comparison of early modern arguments with those of today. |
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Authors:
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Michael Stolberg |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Historical Article; Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Social history of medicine : the journal of the Society for the Social History of Medicine / SSHM Volume: 20 ISSN: 0951-631X ISO Abbreviation: Soc Hist Med Publication Date: 2007 Aug |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2008-07-07 Completed Date: 2008-07-24 Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 8810360 Medline TA: Soc Hist Med Country: England |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 205-21 Citation Subset: QIS |
Affiliation:
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University of Würzburg, Institute for the History of Medicine, Würzburg, Germany. Michael.Stolberg@mail.uni-wuerzburg.de |
Export Citation:
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APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Europe Euthanasia, Active / ethics, history* History, 16th Century History, 17th Century History, 18th Century Humans Personal Autonomy |
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