The harm paradox
Subtitle: tort law and the unwanted child in an era of choice
By: Nicolette Priaulx.
Series: Biomedical law and ethics library
Publisher: Routledge-Cavendish
Published: 2007
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 204
ISBN-13: 9781844721078; 9781844721085
Subjects: Wrongful life -- Great Britain; Wrongful life; Autonomy (Psychology); Medical personnel -- Malpractice -- Great Britain
Description: "Offering the first comprehensive theoretical engagement with actions for wrongful conception and birth, the author examines the significance of these questions in explaining the recent retraction of liability for claims of 'unsolicited parenthood' in the UK. Centralising gender as a critical axis of enquiry, the author argues that the concept of autonomy, though an important value for promoting women's reproductive freedom, is transforming into a reproductive expectation. Not only has autonomy become central to the law's response that enforced parenthood is a harmless outcome, but as Priaulx reveals, similar discourses have come to inhabit the reproductive landscape generally. Seeking to challenge such accounts and pernicious assumptions that inform them, the author questions: 'Just what is it that we value about the concept of autonomy?'"--BOOK JACKET
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [185]-195) and index.
Table of contents: title: The beginning of the decline; title: Characterising harm; title: Loss of autonomy?; title: Defining the problem; title: Notes; title: Injured bodies; title: Natural born reproducers; title: Wrongful pregnancy as a personal injury; title: Orthodox injuries; title: Harmed minds, harmed bodies; title: Paradigm shifts; title: Conclusion; title: Notes; title: Health, disability and harm; title: Emerging dichotomies; title: The 'disability' exception; title: Parental autonomy; title: The importance of context; title: Rees in the House of Lords; title: Conclusion : what kind of autonomy?; title: Notes; title: The harm paradox; title: The mitigation ethic; title: Mitigation is dead; title: Long live choice!; title: My family and other animals; title: Conclusion : a harm paradox?; title: Notes; title: Constructions of the reasonable woman; title: On being responsible; title: Responsible women; title: Self-regarding woman : 'still a choice'; title: Natural woman : 'she had no other choice'; title: The 'woman in need'; title: Conclusion : not a choice?; title: Notes; title: Reproductive choice, reproductive reality; title: A (wo)man's right to choose; title: Reversing nature's discrimination; title: 'In practice abortion is not a choice'; title: 'Women do not experience abortion as a choice'; title: 'Women are conforming, not choosing'; title: Conclusion; title: Notes; title: The moral domain of autonomy; title: What kind of person?; title: Beyond personhood; title: 'Autonomous choice' : a relational approach; title: Being responsible beings; title: Concluding remarks.