The Contribution of Natural Law Theory to Moral and Legal Debate on Suicide, Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

Craig Paterson is a contemporary philosopher with a special interest in bioethics. He was educated at Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland; University of Edinburgh, Scotland; University of York, England; Saint Louis University, USA. He has previously held teaching appointments at Saint Louis University, USA and Providence College, USA. He is currently an independent scholar. Paterson is a significant contributor to contemporary discourse on biomedical ethics in the natural law tradition, especially in the areas of assisted suicide, euthanasia and killing and letting die. He adopts a revised non-naturalist approach to natural law ethics.This text is the dissertation that Paterson originally submitted for his PhD in Health Care Ethics at Saint Louis University, Missouri. The text is essential reading for all those who seek to understand why Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia are morally unacceptable practices and should not be legally permitted by the state.