Representations of palliative care, euthanasia and assisted dying within advocacy declarations

Inbadas, H. , Carrasco, J. M. and Clark, D. (2020) Representations of palliative care, euthanasia and assisted dying within advocacy declarations. Mortality, 25(2), pp. 138-150. (doi: 10.1080/13576275.2019.1567484) (PMID:28261674) (PMCID:PMC5336190)

[img]
Preview
Text
176913.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

1MB

Abstract

It is well known that there are disagreements between the proponents of palliative care and of euthanasia or assisted dying, often with little common ground,shaping the end of life discourse internationally. Advocacy documents or ‘declarations’constitute a significant feature of this discourse. The aim of this study was to explore the content of such declarations and to focus on what they can tell us about palliative care and assisted dying and their dispositions towards one another. 104 declarations were identified and included in the study, covering the period 1974 to 2017. These declarations were analysed following the principles of thematic content analysis. We classified them based on their primary purpose: those with the goal of advocating for palliative care services, education and research were grouped under ‘palliative care declarations’; those with the primary objective of advocating for or against euthanasia/assisted dying were classified as “euthanasia/assisted dying declarations”. Our analysis revealed that the content of the declarations could be broadly categorised into three dimensions: framing, claiming and demanding. We demonstrate that these declarations reveal a struggle over the construction of meanings relating to palliative care and assisted dying and constitute a valuable resource for the analysis of an unfolding debate.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Clark, Professor David and Inbadas, Reverend D Hamilton and Carrasco, Dr Jose
Authors: Inbadas, H., Carrasco, J. M., and Clark, D.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
Journal Name:Mortality
Publisher:Taylor and Francis
ISSN:1357-6275
ISSN (Online):1469-9885
Published Online:04 February 2019
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2019 The Authors
First Published:First published in Mortality 25(2): 138-150
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record

Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
645151Interventions at the end of life: social, historical and comparative analysis to promote global improvement.David ClarkWellcome Trust (WELLCOTR)103319/Z/13/ZIS - INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES