Life, Death (Panels), and the Body Politic

Joshua E. Perry, Indiana University - Bloomington

Abstract

In this timely and provocative essay, the authors argue that concerns about government intervention at the end-of-life in the form of “death panels” articulated by those on the political right is at the same time both nonsensical and natural, given the overt politicization of life and death in the United States. The irony, of course, is that it was the political right that most recently and dramatically fueled the government intervention in the case of Terri Schiavo. The unfortunate consequence of such governmental and political encroachment into life—no longer a bioethics, but a biopolitics—is that the intensely private moment of our death, when we are supposed to be surrounded by our friends and family, has become increasingly difficult – and susceptible to the sort of government intervention lampooned by the “death panel” discussion. Employing a variety of legal and philosophical methods of interpretation, we build upon our previous articles in the legal, medical, and philosophical literature to argue that both the right and the left along the political and social spectrum have participated in this politicization of living and dying with consequences that are potentially dire for patients and their families.