Death by non-feeding: Not in the baby's best interests

It has recently been suggested that doctors have a duty to act in their patient's best interest and that this duty demands that life-sustaining treatment—including food and fluids—should sometimes be withheld or withdrawn and the patient allowed to die. In this article, the author explores the scope of the ‘best interests principle’ in the context of treatment decisions for seriously handicapped newborn infants. She argues that those who hold that it is permissible to starve or dehydrate an infant to death are mistaken to think that this course of action is in the infant's best interests. While it may be true that there are times whendeath is, everything considered, in an infant's best interests, a slow and distressingmethod of bringing death about is not. Since death by dehydration and starvation is not benign, the withholding of food and fluids is generally not in an infant's best interests. The author concludes by suggesting thatwhenever the withdrawal or non-employment of life-sustaining means imposes a heavy burden on the infant, the ‘best interests principle’ would demand that the infant be killed rather than allowed to die.     

Panoramic search: the interaction of memory and vision in search through a familiar scene

How do observers search through familiar scenes? A novel panoramic search method is used to study the interaction of memory and vision in natural search behavior. In panoramic search, observers see part of an unchanging scene larger than their current field of view. A target object can be visible, present in the display but hidden from view, or absent. Visual search efficiency does not change after hundreds of trials through an unchanging scene (Experiment 1). Memory search, in contrast, begins inefficiently but becomes efficient with practice. Given a choice between vision and memory, observers choose vision (Experiments 2 and 3). However, if forced to use their memory on some trials, they learn to use memory on all trials, even when reliable visual information remains available (Experiment 4). The results suggest that observers make a pragmatic choice between vision and memory, with a strong bias toward visual search even for memorized stimuli.     

Some reflections on the problem of advance directives, personhood, and personal identity

In this paper, I consider objections to advance directives based on the claim that there is a discontinuity of interests, and of personal identity, between the time a person executes an advance directive and the time when the patient has become severely demented. Focusing narrowly on refusals of life-sustaining treatment for severely demented patients, I argue that acceptance of the psychological view of personal identity does not entail that treatment refusals should be overriden. Although severely demented patients are morally considerable beings, and must be kept comfortable whilst alive, they no longer have an interest in receiving life-sustaining treatment.     

Out of the depths

A fundamental approach of theology as practiced within the palliative setting is care for the whole human being, with particular focus on spirituality and the spiritual dimension. Theology and medicine come together in palliative care in which the spiritual aspect is an important component together with the physical, psychological, and social. This article is based on a mixed methods study of spirituality among persons receiving palliative care. Findings revealed the importance of spirituality and its multidimensional elements by which spirituality was perceived as a complex phenomenon relating to religious and non-religious aspects of human life. Theological reflection based on the present findings indicates that a sharp distinction between the concepts of religion and spirituality is not beneficial. It also reveals the significance of the spiritual dimension and that theology has an important role in creating a deeper understanding of this complex part of human existence. Spiritual needs, expressed in various ways, were evident among the participants receiving palliative care. The findings confirm that the theological approach in palliative care, with its focus on the whole human being and emphasis on spirituality and the spiritual dimension, continues to be the hallmark of practicing theology within palliative care.     

The Development of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice in Europe: Some Reflections and Concerns

This paper outlines the development of pan European systemic thinking and practice. This development has been enabled and supported with the establishment of the European Family Therapy Association (EFTA). EFTA has evolved over the last decade from an organisation of individual members to an organisation of organisations—representing also national associations of family therapy and family therapy training institutes across 28 European countries. There are three sections to this paper: (1) a brief summary of the development of family therapy practice in Europe; (2) a brief summary of the work of the national associations of family therapy in EFTA; and (3) a brief summary of current concerns of some senior family therapists and family therapy trainers within the EFTA organisation.     

Is a false belief statement a lie or a truthful statement? Judgments and explanations of children aged 3 to 8

Attribution of a false belief is usually taken to indicate that children distinguish between a real world state of affairs and its representation by a subject. But how do they conceive of the properties of such a mental entity? Do they understand that false belief necessarily goes hand in hand with good faith? Our study explores to what extent children conflate false beliefs with lies. Sixty children aged 3 to 8 were presented with an FB situation and then asked whether the character having an FB was lying or not. Results show that up to 6 years, although correctly attributing the FB, children systematically judge the FB statement to be a lie, since it does not correspond to the real world state of affairs. Older children succeed in the lie judgment, invoking the false believer's not knowing the world state. Discussion bears on the relation between false belief and more general epistemic states.     

Religious education in state schools in German‐speaking Switzerland

There are today a variety of patterns in the different cantons of Switzerland for regulating the teaching of RE. The Swiss system is based on a cooperation between Church and state which varies in relation to the history and character of the differing cantons. This allows for diversity in modes of delivering RE. In two cantons there is complete separation between church and state whereas in the majority there is some form of cooperation. State recognized religious communities (normally the Swiss Reformed and Roman Catholic Churches, but in Basel the Old Catholic Church and Jewish community also) are in charge of the RE in schools where it is taught by their representatives visiting the schools. Where state related RE is taught this is done by teachers in the school employed by the state. The presence of Turkish immigrants is raising problems for the teaching of RE in certain areas since Islam has not been traditionally state recognized. However, the inherent diversity of patterns within the 26 cantons allows considerable room for innovation feasible because there is generally an openness between the churches and from the state which facilitates this.     

Parental Influence on Work and Family Plans of Adolescents of Different Ethnic Backgrounds in The Netherlands

This paper examined the work and family plans of adolescents from five different ethnic origins. The way in which parents influence these plans was studied by using a representative sample of secondary school pupils (N?=?52,000) in The Netherlands. Results showed that substantial proportions of adolescents had traditional work and family plans. The study showed that work and family plans of adolescents of non-Dutch origin overall were at least as egalitarian as those of Dutch origin. Girls of all ethnic origins held more egalitarian plans than boys. Logistic regression analyses revealed that adolescents’ plans were associated with parents’ socio-demographic characteristics and role-modeling. The processes of intergenerational transmission were found to be highly similar for girls and boys in all ethnic groups.     

Local Identity and the Role of Individual Differences in the Use of Natural Resources: The Case of Water Consumption1

A field study assessed the role of social value orientation (SVO) and identification with the local community on water conservation behavior in Italy. Participants (N = 758) completed a self‐reported questionnaire, during summer and Easter time. It was expected that SVO and local identification would affect cooperation in conserving water resources. Consistent with the hypotheses, the highest levels of voluntary cooperation were detected among prosocial persons with high local identity, while the lowest levels of cooperation were detected among proself persons with low local identity. Other factors (e.g., perception of local authority's legitimacy, place of residence, severity of water scarcity condition) did not affect the hypothesized interaction. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.