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Sjef Gevers

Publications and source records attributed to Sjef Gevers.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Dementia and the law.

The care for patients with dementia raises many legal (and ethical) issues. This article explores some of the more important topics, i.e. (early) diagnosis of the disease, the availability and provision of care, treatment and non treatment decisions, and medical research with dementia patients.

Advance Directives↗
PubMed2005

Withdrawing life support from patients in a persistent vegetative state: the law in the Netherlands.

This article sets out how a case like that of ms. Schiavo is likely to be decided in a Dutch court and compares that with the law in the United States. In the Netherlands there is one case with striking similarities: the decision of the Arnhem Court of Appeal of 1989. After describing that case (which to a large extent still reflects the legal state of the art), comments are given on several aspects of the issue, such as the labelling of artifical feeding as a medical intervention, the role of the physician, the position of the proxy or surrogate, the ways to resolve dispute in case of conflict, and the significance of advance directives. The analysis will show that, although there is more consensus on the issue now than there was 16 years ago, there are still several questions that need to be addressed in the future.

Euthanasia, Passive↗
PubMed2005

Explicit or presumed consent and organ donation post-mortem: does it matter?

In the last 25 years almost every West European country has enacted a transplantation law. During the preparation of these laws an important issue was whether to base the transplantation law on explicit or presumed consent regarding organ donation post-mortem. A common view of supporters of the presumed consent system is that it will result in more organ donors than the rule of explicit consent. In this article the difference between the different systems is further explored. For that purpose, the systems for post mortem donation in 10 West European countries will be discussed. Focus will be on the legal role of relatives within the consent process and finally on the role of relatives in practice. It will be argued that the difference between the two types of systems is less important than it seems to be at first sight.

Death↗
PubMed2003

The marketing of health products, with special reference to do-it-yourself tests.

At a rapid pace, in vitro diagnostic medical devices are being developed to detect risk factors for disease; to a growing extent, these test kits are also directly marketed to the public for use at home. While at first sight serving a good cause, self testing may have considerable drawbacks relating to the well-being of the test subject on the one hand, and to the privacy and the right not to know of other persons on the other. This raises the question whether the availability of self tests should be restricted. Taking into account legal developments in The Netherlands and the European Union, the author argues in favour of restrictions, at least when serious diseases or conditions are concerned. The existence of the internet is not an excuse for not adopting such safeguards.

Equipment and Supplies↗
PubMed1999

Third trimester abortion for fetal abnormality.

Developments in medical technology have increased the possibility of diagnosing severe structural abnormalties in the fetus. If these occur, a woman may request termination of her pregnancy. This raises serious ethical and legal questions, in particular if the anomalies are discovered in the third trimester when the fetus is considered viable. Should doctors be allowed to act upon a request for abortion in such a situation, and, if so, which safeguards should be in place? These questions are discussed with special reference to the Netherlands where a commission established by the government recently published a report on this matter.

Abortion, Eugenic↗
PubMed1995

Physician assisted suicide: new developments in the Netherlands.

Until recently, physician assisted suicide was dealt with on the same basis as active voluntary euthanasia in the Netherlands. Over the last years, several cases relating to assistance in suicide of mental patients did raise specific issues, not addressed so far in the debate on euthanasia. One of these cases resulted in a Supreme Court decision. The paper summarizes this decision and comments on it from a legal point of view.

Criminal Law↗
PubMed1993

Use of genetic data, employment and insurance: an international perspective.

In this paper, I will say first of all a few words on what is novel in the potential exclusionary use of genetic information in the domains of work or insurance and to what extent legal protection specifically relating to genetic discrimination may be justified. Subsequently, I will briefly examine some of the proposed restrictions on the collection of genetic information for purposes of selection and the scope for international consensus on the issue; in doing so, I will deal separately with employment and private insurance. Finally, I will raise the question whether these issues require international handling and which international steps could be envisaged.

Employment↗