A Right to Die?

An ethical case study on CD-ROM which forces the user to participate in the difficult decisions being made when a seriously injured young man demands the right to die.

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The fascinating and moving case of Dax Cowart is one of the best known and most significant in applied ethics, highlighting the ethical and medical dilemmas over an individual's right to die.
As a young man, Dax Cowart was seriously injured and left with greatly reduced quality of life as a result of a car accident in Texas. Dax's struggle to die and the arguments surrounding the decisions of those involved made him a cause celebré in the Right to Die movement.
This ground-breaking CD-ROM, developed in association with Carnegie Mellon University, presents this important case in detail. The user sees and hears Dax himself and those surrounding him and is forced to participate in the difficult decisions being made. The user is asked to make brief statements justifying these decisions, which can be reviewed at the end of the session. By participating in this genuinely interactive process, students develop, practice and defend their ethical analysis and decision-making using a 'real world' case study.
Bringing together reference material, pedagogical text, video and sound, The Right to Die on CD-ROM is a major resource across several academic disciplines including philosophy, medical ethics and law. Professional practitioners will also find this CD-ROM essential for reviewing and honing their analytical skills and libraries, societies, pressure groups and other concerned institutions will require copies for reference use.
The software allows the user to:
* Install on either a Macintosh or Windows machine
* Save and print out their own notes and statements
* Review the decisions and statements made during a session
* Access video clips without running through the whole program
Contents:
1. Programme Introduction
Introduces the programme and introduces The Basic Question. In the latter, the user is asked to take on an initial view of Dax Cowart's request to die based on a summary of the case.
2. Guided Inquiries
The user is guided through the case and its context, reading evidence, listening to the arguments put forward and watching video footage. The user is asked to make ethical decisions and the evidence and text presented subsequently changes appropriately, demonstrating the full impact of decisions taken. The user can at any time seek help on the philosophical thinking involved behind the decision at hand using the commentary button. The last section of the Guided Inquiries - Final Position - leaves the user to make the final judgement. The programme finishes with an audio-visual segment that once again challenges the user to reflect on their position.
3. The Archives
This section allows a review of the case material - including audio-visual elements - independently from the case narrative. Additional information regarding the case chronology and other famous 'right to die' cases are included.
* Available in a basic single-user version or a multi-user version. The multi-user version allows the purchase of multiple copies at a substantial discount on the single-user price for use in the classroom and project work in libraries and computing centres
Teacher's Guide
Provided with the multi-user version, this book not only guides the instructor through the programme but also suggests possible uses of the CD-ROM in the classroom with specific lesson plans and bibliographies.
* For more information on this title - including sample black and white Quicktime movies from the CD - visit our Right to Die site at:
http://www.routledge.com:9966/routledge/indepth/dax/main.htm l
For further information - including details on the multi-user option - email info.dax@routledge.com