Reclaiming the patient's voice and spirit in dying: an insight from Israel

Bioethics
Carmel Shalev

Abstract

In the latter half of the 20th century, Western medicine moved death from the home to the hospital. As a result, the process of dying seems to have lost its spiritual dimension, and become a matter of prolonging material life by means of medical technology. The novel quandaries that arose led in turn to medico-legal regulation. This paper describes the recent regulation of dying in Israel under its Dying Patient Law, 2005. The Law recognizes advance directives in principle, but limits their effect and form through complex medico-legal artifices. It reflects a culture that places high value on both scientific medicine and the sanctity of life as such, and illustrates a medical culture that pitches battle against death. At the same time, the Law constructs the will of the individual in a medico-legal language that is alien to the lay person. The paper suggests an alternative approach to advance care planning that is patient-centred and addresses the psycho-social needs of the individual in terms of her relational autonomy. From this perspective, advance care planning becomes an opportunity to extract the patient from the medical context and allow her to speak about her approaching death with close ones in her own terms of referen...Continue Reading

Citations

Jun 26, 2012·Health Care Analysis : HCA : Journal of Health Philosophy and Policy·Aviad RazSilke Schicktanz
Jul 2, 2010·Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care·Margarita Jorge
Nov 22, 2011·The Journal of Emergency Medicine·Ferdinando L MirarchiNathan Kottkamp
Mar 24, 2016·The Journal of Medical Humanities·Aviad RazChristoph Rehmann-Sutter
Jul 6, 2017·BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care·Barbara HayesZoe Austin-Crowe
Oct 27, 2014·Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy·Julia InthornAviad Raz
Sep 23, 2020·Israel Journal of Health Policy Research·Daniel Sperling, Rina B Pikkel

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