Current controversies and irresolvable disagreement: the case of Vincent Lambert and the role of ‘dissensus’
Controversial cases in medical ethics are, by their very nature, divisive. There are disagreements that revolve around questions of fact or of value. Ethical debate may help in resolving those disagreements. However, sometimes in such cases, there are opposing reasonable views arising from deep-seat...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2019
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| _version_ | 1797079648096485376 |
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| author | Wilkinson, D Savulescu, J |
| author_facet | Wilkinson, D Savulescu, J |
| author_sort | Wilkinson, D |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Controversial cases in medical ethics are, by their very nature, divisive. There are disagreements that revolve around questions of fact or of value. Ethical debate may help in resolving those disagreements. However, sometimes in such cases, there are opposing reasonable views arising from deep-seated differences in ethical values. It is unclear that agreement and consensus will ever be possible. In this paper, we discuss the recent controversial case of Vincent Lambert, a French man, diagnosed with a vegetative state, for whom there were multiple court hearings over a number of years. Both family and health professionals were divided about whether artificial nutrition and hydration should be withdrawn and Lambert allowed to die. We apply a ‘dissensus’ approach to his case and argue that the ethical issue most in need of scrutiny (resource allocation) is different from the one that was the focus of attention. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:48:54Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:85ac2ed0-7300-44d6-9133-1d2e47d02bed |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:48:54Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:85ac2ed0-7300-44d6-9133-1d2e47d02bed2022-03-26T21:59:10ZCurrent controversies and irresolvable disagreement: the case of Vincent Lambert and the role of ‘dissensus’ Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:85ac2ed0-7300-44d6-9133-1d2e47d02bedEnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordBMJ Publishing Group2019Wilkinson, DSavulescu, JControversial cases in medical ethics are, by their very nature, divisive. There are disagreements that revolve around questions of fact or of value. Ethical debate may help in resolving those disagreements. However, sometimes in such cases, there are opposing reasonable views arising from deep-seated differences in ethical values. It is unclear that agreement and consensus will ever be possible. In this paper, we discuss the recent controversial case of Vincent Lambert, a French man, diagnosed with a vegetative state, for whom there were multiple court hearings over a number of years. Both family and health professionals were divided about whether artificial nutrition and hydration should be withdrawn and Lambert allowed to die. We apply a ‘dissensus’ approach to his case and argue that the ethical issue most in need of scrutiny (resource allocation) is different from the one that was the focus of attention. |
| spellingShingle | Wilkinson, D Savulescu, J Current controversies and irresolvable disagreement: the case of Vincent Lambert and the role of ‘dissensus’ |
| title | Current controversies and irresolvable disagreement: the case of Vincent Lambert and the role of ‘dissensus’ |
| title_full | Current controversies and irresolvable disagreement: the case of Vincent Lambert and the role of ‘dissensus’ |
| title_fullStr | Current controversies and irresolvable disagreement: the case of Vincent Lambert and the role of ‘dissensus’ |
| title_full_unstemmed | Current controversies and irresolvable disagreement: the case of Vincent Lambert and the role of ‘dissensus’ |
| title_short | Current controversies and irresolvable disagreement: the case of Vincent Lambert and the role of ‘dissensus’ |
| title_sort | current controversies and irresolvable disagreement the case of vincent lambert and the role of dissensus |
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