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Bioethics is a field that has defined itself in moral controversies. For example, bioethics has emerged as a discipline in the attempts to resolve moral controversies surrounding medical practices and health care policies in areas such as experimentation and research, abortion, reproduction, and the allocation of resources in health care. One source of constant moral controversy has been the issues surrounding death and dying. There have been controversies about the definition of death, the extent of the obligation to treat the dying, the use of resources for the care of the dying, euthanasia, and assisted suicide. From the celebrated cases in the United States of Karen Ann Quinlan and Nancy Beth Cruzan to the ruling on assisted suicide in the state of Washington (see, Compassion in Dying) the controversies of death and dying have been part of bioethics and public policy.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-18965-9_6

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