One of the common domains in health care in which the concept of vulnerability is used is end-of-life care, including euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS). Since different uses and implications of the notion have been recognised in the literature on EAS, this paper aims to analyse them and reflect on who is the most vulnerable in the context of EAS. A prior exploratory review of the literature has served as a starting point for the discussion. We concluded that vulnerability is (...) a complex, multi-perspective and multi-layered concept, which implies the vulnerability of different stakeholders involved in EAS practices and vulnerability in different aspects of being human (i.e., physical, mental, moral, social and spiritual). A comprehensive understanding of the notion of vulnerability, which balances as well as complements the concept of autonomy, seems to be an indispensable element of the discourse on EAS. (shrink)

There has been increased interest in what the philosophical subdiscipline of phenomenology can contribute to medical humanities due to its dual emphases on practicality and its attempt to understand the experience of others, thus positioning it as a potentially helpful conceptual toolkit to guide clinical care. Using various figures from the phenomenological tradition, most prominently Martin Heidegger and Martin Buber, the authors illuminate relevant philosophical concepts, employ them in various examples, and provide three principles revolving around empathy, communication, and listening (...) to patients’ individual values to guide medical professionals who practice the art of medicine in cancer care settings. (shrink)

Neonatal suffering has been the focus of recent debate in pediatric bioethics and suffering theory. How to access and conceptualize the suffering that can be attributed to newborns? How to discern the suffering of newborns who, due to being non-neurotypical, may have a short life and severe neurocognitive disabilities, in addition to being entirely dependent on people or life-sustaining technologies? Phenomenology has provided valuable tools for analysing human experiences of suffering, but its application to the neonatal suffering experience is not (...) without fundamental challenges. In this article, I will consider recent contributions to elucidating the phenomenon of neonatal suffering, especially those in the field of non-experiential theories of suffering. Based on this review, a recent phenomenological approach to suffering will be examined. Explicitly directed toward narrative persons, this approach appears to be inherently limited in elucidating the phenomenon of neonatal pediatric suffering. Nevertheless, a suggestion will be offered to partially elaborate the theoretical foundations of a phenomenological theory of neonatal suffering. This suggestion points to the program of a phenomenology of the existential feelings of newborns. (shrink)

My paper challenges an influential distinction between pain and suffering put forward by physician-ethicist, Eric Cassell. I argue that Cassell’s distinction is philosophically untenable because he contrasts suffering with an outdated theory of pain. In particular, Cassell focuses on one type of pain, the interpretation of nociception induced by noxious stimuli such as heat or sharp objects; yet since the late 1970s, pain scientists have rendered both nociception and noxious stimuli unnecessary for pain. I argue that this discrepancy between Cassell’s (...) distinction and pain science produces three philosophical problems for his distinction: first, he frames his distinction too generally, concentrating on only one type of pain (interpreted nociception) to the neglect of others, such as neuropathy; second, it is possible that Cassell’s understanding of pain may include suffering; and third, Cassell gives examples of pain and suffering manifesting independently of each other, but it is possible that these cases may instead exemplify differences between nociceptive and non-nociceptive types of pain. Due to these problems, I conclude that Cassell’s distinction currently lacks a difference. I call for new efforts to articulate the differences, if any, between pain and suffering. (shrink)