The Patient's Wish to Die
Research, Ethics, and Palliative Care
Edited by Christoph Rehmann-Sutter, Heike Gudat, and Kathrin Ohnsorge
Author Information
Christoph Rehmann-Sutter, Professor of Theory and Ethics in the Biosciences, Institute for the History of Medicine and Science Studies, Lubeck, Germany,Heike Gudat, Head of the hospital for palliative care, Hospiz im Park, Hospital for Palliative Care, Arlesheim, Switzerland,Kathrin Ohnsorge, Researcher at the hospital for palliative care, Hospiz im Park, Hospital for Palliative Care, Arlesheim, Switzerland
Christoph Rehmann-Sutter is Professor of Theory and Ethics in the Biosciences at the University of Lubeck in Germany and is also a visiting professor at King's College, London. After a diploma in molecular biology, he studied philosophy and sociology. In 1996 he founded the Unit of Bioethics at the University of Basel, Switzerland, and he was president of the Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics from 2001 to 2009. Current research interests include the anthropology of genomics, the ethics of transplantation of blood stem cells between siblings, and moral issues in end-of-life care. He has published more than 200 scholarly papers.
Heike Gudat is physician and specialised in palliative care. Since 2000 she has been the medical head of the HOSPIZ IM PARK, an independent hospital for palliative and end of life care in the region of Basel, Switzerland. After medical education at the University of Basel 1988 she specialised in internal medicine, also experiencing the special fields of rehabilitation, gerontology and hematology. From 1992-1994 studies of experimental cytogenetics at the University of Lubeck (Prof. Ch. Fonatsch), supported by the Swiss National Foundation. Since 1996 specialisation in palliative care. Within regular teaching activities Heike Gudat has a teaching assignment for palliative care at the University of Basel. Together with Settimio Monteverde she developed interdisciplinary palliative care training courses for primary care professionals. Current research interests include wishes to die in end of life care situations and implementation of palliative care in family medicine.
Kathrin Ohnsorge is a researcher in bioethics currently working at the HOSPIZ IM PARK, a hospice close to Basel in Switzerland. After her graduation in philosophy, she obtained a European Master in Bioethics from the Universities of Leuven, Nijmengen, Basel and Padua. From 2001 to 2012, she worked at the University of Basel in various research projects regarding ethical issues in end-of-life care. Her current research interests are in ethical issues in end-of-life care and long term care and in narrative and hermeneutic approaches to bioethics. She teaches also bioethics in two postgraduate programs at the University of Padua.
Contributors:
Albert Balaguer, Medicine and Health Sciences School, Centre de Recerca / Estudis Bioètics, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Spain
Alexandre Mauron, Institute of Bioethics, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Bregje D. Onwuteaka-Philipsen, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Expertise Center of Palliative Care, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Christian Villavicencio-Chávez, Centre de Recerca i Estudis Bioètics (CREB), Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Spain; Institut Català d'Oncologia, Spain
Christoph Rehmann-Sutter, Institute for History of Medicine and Science Studies, University of Lübeck, Germany
Cristina Monforte-Royo, Medicine and Health Sciences School, Centre de Recerca I Estudis Bioètics, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Spain
Gary Rodin, University of Toronto, Canada and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network Canada
Heike Gudat, Hospiz im Park. Hospital for Palliative Care, Arlesheim, Switzerland
Kathrin Ohnsorge, Hospiz im Park, Hospital for Palliative Care, Arlesheim, Switzerland
Lars Johan Materstvedt, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
Luc Deliens, End-of-life Care Research Group, Ghent University and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Marian Verkerk, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
Nessa Coyle, Consultant in Pain and Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care, New York, USA
Professor Guy Widdershoven, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Settimio Monteverde, Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Tracy A. Schroepfer, School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Yasmin Gunaratnam, Goldsmith College, University of London, UK