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Recent advances in medical technology have provided healthcare staff with the possibility of maintaining the life of a brain-dead pregnant woman on life-support in order to achieve successful delivery of the foetus. Management of Post-Mortem Pregnancy examines the legal and ethical difficulties surrounding such post-mortem management. Offering practical guidance based on a combined analysis of similar situations that affect pregnant women's lifestyle and physical condition and of the legal framework of pregnancy clauses in advance directive legislation, the volume considers pregnant women's obligations towards their foetuses. It discusses the main moral, legal, psychological, religious, spiritual and physical aspects of the question on the interests of dead people, as well as the jurisprudential question of the foetus'interests. The book will be a valuable guide for all those involved with the decision-making process of such tragic cases. It will also be of wider use to anyone with an interest in legal, ethical and bio-medical issues.

Das Buch untersucht die Bestimmungsrechte am menschlichen Körper und seiner Teile in den verschiedenen Phasen der körperlichen Existenz aus grundrechtlicher, insbesondere eigentumsrechtlicher Perspektive. Ein Schwerpunkt ist dabei, inwieweit die kommerzielle Verfügung über Substanzen grundrechtlich geschützt wird. Hierbei werden auch die verfassungsrechtlichen Grenzen einer eigentumsrechtlichen Einordnung (z.B. bzgl. der Eigentumsfähigkeit des Leichnams) und der Kommerzialisierung untersucht, wobei insbesondere auf die Reichweite von Art. 1 Abs. 1 Satz 1 GG in diesem Kontext eingegangen wird. In den Blick genommen werden sowohl die postnatale Phase der körperlichen Existenz als auch die pränatale und die postmortale.

Daniel Sperling discusses the legal status of posthumous interests and their possible defeat by actions performed following the death of a person. The author first explores the following questions: Do the dead have interests and/or rights, the defeat of which may constitute harm? What does posthumous harm consist of and when does it occur, if at all? This is followed by a more detailed analysis of three categories of posthumous interests arising in the medico-legal context: the proprietary interest in the body of the deceased, the testamentary interest in determining the disposal of one's body after death and the interest in post-mortem medical confidentiality. Sperling concludes that if we acknowledge the interest in one's symbolic existence and legally protect it, not only do some interests survive a person's death but we should also enjoy a peremptory legal power to shape in advance our symbolic existence after death.

Death has diverse religious, social, legal, and medical aspects and is one of the main areas in which medicine and the law intersect. In this volume, we ask: 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, in the process answering 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 compensation exists for death and how is death valued? 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 offences against the dead? How are the traditions of death still played out in religion? How have customs and traditions of the disposal of bodies and funerals changed? What happens to donated bodies in the biomedical setting where anatomical education is permitted? What processes are employed by police when investigating suspicious deaths? What of representations of death? These and other questions are the subject of this challenging and diverse set of essays.