Last updated on: 3/5/2009 | Author: ProCon.org

Susan Wolf, JD Biography

Title:
McKnight Presidential Professor of Law, Medicine & Public Policy at the University of Minnesota
Position:
Con to the question "Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?"
Reasoning:

“Patients’ vulnerability to requesting these fatal interventions because of failures in health care and other background conditions, or because of a desire not to die but to alter circumstances, introduces reasons why we should be reluctant to endorse these practices…

I oppose the legitimation of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.”

“Gender, Feminism, and Death,” Feminism and Bioethics, 1996
Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
    Experts
Individuals with MDs, JDs, PhDs, or equivalent advanced degrees in fields relevant to end-of-life issues. Also top-level government officials (such as foreign leaders, US presidents, Founding Fathers, Supreme Court Justices, members of legislative bodies, cabinet members, military leaders, etc.) with positions relevant to end-of-life.
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • McKnight Presidential Professor of Law, Medicine & Public Policy, University of Minnesota
  • Faegre & Benson Professor of Law, University of Minnesota
  • Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota
  • Faculty Member, Center for Bioethics, University of Minnesota
  • Founding Director, Joint Degree Program in Law, Health & the Life Sciences, University of Minnesota
  • Founding Chair, Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences, University of Minnesota
  • Faculty Chair, Concentration in Health Law & Bioethics, University of Minnesota
  • Fellow, The Hastings Center, 1993-Present
  • Member, Ethics Committee, American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 2002-2005
  • Board of Directors, American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, 2001-04
  • Executive Editor, Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology, 2004-Present
  • Editorial Board, Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 2002-Present
  • Editorial Board, American Journal of Bioethics, 2001-2004
  • David Barap Brin Visiting Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 2002
  • Medical School Merit Award, University of Minnesota, 1996
Education:
  • JD, Summa Cum Laude, Yale Law School
  • AB, Princeton University
Other:
  • Jonathan J. King Lectureship, Stanford University Medical Center, 1994
  • Fellow, Program in Ethics and the Professions, Harvard University, 1992-1993
  • Member, Board of Directors, American Society for Bioethics and Humanities
  • Member, Coordinating Group on Bioethics and the Law, American Bar Association
  • Member, Medical Ethics Video Advisory Panel, American Medical Association