French parliamentary committee advocates passive euthanasia

Passive euthanasia.

The idea of passive euthanasia has recently been attacked in a particularly clear and explicit way by an "Ethics Task Force" established by the European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) in February 2001. It claims that the expression "passive euthanasia" is a contradiction in terms and hence that there can be no such thing. This paper critically assesses the main arguments for the Task For...

CLINICAL ETHICS Passive euthanasia

The idea of passive euthanasia has recently been attacked in a particularly clear and explicit way by an ‘‘Ethics Task Force’’ established by the European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) in February 2001. It claims that the expression ‘‘passive euthanasia’’ is a contradiction in terms and hence that there can be no such thing. This paper critically assesses the main arguments for the Task...

The activation of resonance in French parliamentary debates

Speakers who engage in the joint activity of a conversation tend to align their utterances with those of their interlocutors by reusing, reinterpreting, hence playing with co-present linguistic material. One dimension of alignment is the activation of resonance, as recently developed within the model of ‘dialogic syntax’ (Du Bois, 2001). When speakers establish cross-turn parallelisms in the fo...

The French Technical Vaccination Committee (CTV).

This article describes the make-up and activities of the Technical Vaccination Committee (CTV) that serves as the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) in France. Comprised of a variety of technical experts, the CTV makes recommendations concerning vaccination. The committee functions as an independent expert advisory committee, and its proceedings are confidential, although it...

Active vs. passive euthanasia: why keep the distinction?