Death Rites and Rights

✍ Scribed by Belinda Brooks-Gordon, Fatemeh Ebtehaj, Jonathan Herring, Martin H. Johnson, Martin Richards

• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 322
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Death has diverse religious, social, legal, and medical aspects, and is one of the main areas in which medicine and the law intersect. Nations are judged by how they deal with — or cause — death, and what meaning they attach to mourning rites. Mourning rites, in particular, have become a focus for national attention in the UK, whether in response to the sudden death of Diana, Princess of Wales; the quiet curiosity shown to the death of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother; or the mass laying of fields of flowers following the July 7 bombings in 2005. What is the meaning of death in contemporary Britain and in other cultures, and how has it changed over time? The essays in this collection tackle the diverse ways in which death is now experienced in modern society, and in the process answer a wide variety of questions: How is death defined by law? Do the dead have legal rights? What is one allowed to have and not have done to one's body after death? What are the rights of next of kin in this respect? What is happening to the law on euthanasia and suicide? Is there a human right to die? What is the principle of sanctity of life? What of criminal offenses against the dead? How are the traditions of death still played out in religion? What happens to donated bodies in the biomedical setting where anatomical education is permitted? These and other questions are the subject of this challenging and diverse set of essays.

✦ Table of Contents

Half title page......Page 1
Title page......Page 3
Title verso......Page 4
Acknowledgements......Page 5
Contents......Page 7
Notes on Contributors......Page 9
1 Introduction: Death Writes......Page 15
I. INTRODUCTION......Page 27
II. WHAT IS DEATH?......Page 28
III. THE LEGAL DEFINITION OF DEATH......Page 30
IV. BRAIN STEM DEATH......Page 31
V. THE END OF CONSCIOUSNESS......Page 33
VI. THE ENDING OF CARDIAC FUNCTION......Page 35
VII. THE END OF THE ORGANISM......Page 36
IX. DESOULMENT......Page 37
X. DEATH AS A PROCESS......Page 38
XI. NO DEFINITION......Page 39
XII. CHOOSING BETWEEN THE DEFINITIONS......Page 40
XIII. CONCLUSION......Page 44
REFERENCES......Page 45
I. INTRODUCTION......Page 51
II. TRUST IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION......Page 53
II. EVIDENCE FROM THE NETHERLANDS......Page 54
IV. EVIDENCE FROM BELGIUM......Page 56
V. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PALLIATIVE CARE AND ASSISTED DYING......Page 58
VI. LEGALISATION VERSUS ILLEGALITY......Page 60
VII. CONCLUSION......Page 65
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 67
I. INTRODUCTION......Page 71
II. CONTEXT—DEATH DESIRES......Page 72
III. CRIMINALISING CARERS—ASSISTED DYING OUTLAWS......Page 74
IV. CONCLUSION......Page 85
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 86
I. INTRODUCTION......Page 89
II. BREAKING DOWN THE RIGHT TO DIE......Page 91
III. CONCLUSION......Page 102
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 105
II. DEATH AND THE ORIGINS OF RELIGION......Page 109
III. THE JEWISH ORIGINS OF CHRISTIAN ATTITUDES TO THE AFTERLIFE......Page 112
IV. THE CENTRALITY OF CHRIST’S DEATH AND RESURRECTION FOR CHRISTIAN ATTITUDES TO THE AFTERLIFE......Page 113
V. THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN BELIEF AND PRACTICE IN THEPATRISTIC PERIOD......Page 115
VI. THE ADVENT OF ISLAM......Page 116
VII. THE BIRTH OF PURGATORY......Page 117
VIII. THE REFORMATION AND ITS LEGACY......Page 118
IX. THE ANGLICAN DOMINANCE AND ITS DEMISE......Page 120
X. CREMATION IN A SECULAR SOCIETY......Page 121
XI. COMPETING BELIEFS AND PRACTICES......Page 122
XII. IN CONTEMPORARY BRITAIN......Page 123
XIII. CONCLUSION......Page 125
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 128
I. INTRODUCTION......Page 131
II. RICHARD BEAUCHAMP, EARL OF WARWICK......Page 134
III. JOHN BARET OF BURY ST EDMUNDS......Page 139
IV. CONCLUSION......Page 143
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 144
I. DEATH, LAW, POETRY......Page 147
II. ‘TINTERN ABBEY’ AND THE DEATH OF THE SUBJECT......Page 150
III. THE WILL AND THE LAW......Page 158
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 160
I. INTRODUCTION......Page 161
II. ANTHROPOLOGY AND MATERIAL CULTURE......Page 162
III. ETHNOGRAPHY ON A LONDON STREET......Page 163
IV. THE MATERIAL CULTURE OF DEATH AND BEREAVEMENT......Page 164
V. PHOTOGRAPHS......Page 165
VI. CLOTHING AND JEWELLERY......Page 167
VII. ELIA’S MEMENTOS AND CEMETERY VISITS......Page 169
VIII. GENDER AND DEATH RITUAL......Page 171
IX. CONCLUSION......Page 172
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 174
I. INTRODUCTION......Page 177
II. CHANGING PATTERNS OF DEATH AND DYING......Page 178
III. A DE-COUPLING OF LIFEWORLD AND SYSTEM......Page 182
IV. A REVIVAL OF DEATH?......Page 185
V. THE GOOD DEATH......Page 188
REFERENCES......Page 192
I. INTRODUCTION......Page 197
II. DEATH AND CRIMINAL HOMICIDEIn......Page 198
III. POLICE INVESTIGATIVE AND DETECTIVE WORK......Page 201
IV. THE ROLE OF SUSPECT INTERVIEWS: A CASE STUDY......Page 202
V. DISCUSSION: MAKING SENSE OF DEATH......Page 207
VI. CONCLUSION......Page 209
REFERENCES......Page 210
I. INTRODUCTION......Page 213
II. THE LIBERAL PARADIGM......Page 214
III. RIGHTS OF CONTROL......Page 215
IV. HARMING THE DEAD......Page 216
V. THE PROPERTY PARADIGM......Page 220
VI. CONFLICT RESOLUTION......Page 225
REFERENCES......Page 229
II. CRIMES AGAINST THE DEAD: THE OFFENCES......Page 233
III. GAPS IN THE CRIMINAL LAW......Page 244
IV. JUSTIFYING CRIMES AGAINST THE DEAD......Page 245
V. REFORMING THE LAW AGAINST CORPSES......Page 250
VI. CONCLUSION......Page 251
REFERENCES......Page 252
I. INTRODUCTION......Page 255
II. THE FIRST QUESTION: THE EFFECT OF DEATH ON TORT ACTIONS......Page 256
III. THE SECOND QUESTION: WHAT IF THE DEATH IS THE INJURYCOMPLAINED OF?......Page 257
IV. CONCLUSION......Page 270
APPENDIX......Page 271
REFERENCES......Page 273
I. INTRODUCTION......Page 275
II. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE STUDY OF HUMAN ANATOMY IN EUROPE......Page 276
III. HUMAN TISSUE ACT 2004......Page 279
IV. IS THERE A FUTURE FOR ANATOMICAL DISSECTION IN THE UK?......Page 290
REFERENCES......Page 291
I. INTRODUCTION......Page 293
II. BODIES OF THE ‘UNCLAIMED’......Page 294
III. BODIES OF DONORS......Page 296
IV. REMEMBERING IN THE DISSECTING ROOM......Page 299
V. THE MEMORIAL SERVICE......Page 302
VI. THE MEMORIAL BOOK......Page 304
VII. THE CEMETERY MEMORIAL......Page 306
VIII. BODIES, NAMES AND MEMORIALS......Page 310
REFERENCES......Page 311
Index......Page 313