Legal solutions to medical problems: a rights-based approach as the way forward in the ownership and end-of-life contexts

Abstract

Summary:  This essay takes two contentious issues of contemporary society – end-of-life and ownership of bodily material and examines them through a legal lens. Relevance:  In today’s litigation culture, the spheres of medicine and law increasingly overlap, sparking a need to leave the dichotomies behind and explore the symbiosis between these fields.  Take Home Messages: On the basis of (1) consistency, (2) coherency and (3) control, it is argued that a rights terminology would helpfully organise the way we approach medical decision-making in these two contexts.