On Euthanasia Newcomers in Law Series

Author: Wang Xiaohui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Wang Xiaohui is a Ph.D. student I supervised. His doctoral dissertation, "Research on Euthanasia," was successfully defended by a dissertation committee chaired by Professor Li Xihui of the Law School of Wuhan University in June 2002, and he was awarded a Ph.D. in Law by Jilin University. As his dissertation was revised and renamed "On Euthanasia," which is about to be published, at his invitation, I have written the preface as follows. The issue of euthanasia, as Wang Xiaohui understands, is an extremely complex one involving philosophy, law, medical ethics, and sociological theory, and it has sparked widespread debate since it was proposed in the 1930s. From the current research status of China's criminal law academia, no significant progress has been made on this issue. Exploring the reasons, on the one hand, it is due to the narrow horizons of scholars, and on the other hand, it is constrained by China's traditional criminal law theory of crime composition. Of course, this is also related to a scholar's interests and courage. The issue of euthanasia is a complex one related to law, sociology, philosophy, and medical ethics. This book summarizes the main characteristics of euthanasia from the perspectives of the above disciplines, analyzes the criminal law theoretical reasons why euthanasia constitutes a crime in China, classifies the concept, and proposes the view that euthanasia is different from dignified death.