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Virtual Seminar:  Wednesday 30th April 2025

17.30 - 18.30

An 'assisted death' by any other name would smell as sweet?

Our Online Seminar series programme returns with confirmed speaker Prof David A. Jones.

The terminology of assisted dying, that is, assisted suicide and euthanasia, is controversial. This is not only because the language has shifted over time (from voluntary euthanasia, to a 'right to die' or 'death with dignity', to physician-assisted suicide, to assisted dying) and not only because of the connotations of different language are contested, but also because the same terms are sometimes used to refer to different practices. For practical as well as political reasons, it is important to distinguish euthanasia and practitioner-assisted suicide. 

David Albert Jones is Director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Oxford; he was appointed in 2010. He is also a Fellow at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University and Professor of Bioethics at St Mary’s University, Twickenham.

Professor Jones read Natural Sciences and Philosophy at Cambridge (1984-1987), and Theology at Oxford (1992-2000). In 2002, he was appointed Senior Lecturer at St Mary’s University, Twickenham where he helped establish an MA in Bioethics. Subsequently, he was appointed Professor in Bioethics and co-founded the Centre for Bioethics and Emerging Technologies. Professor Jones’s doctorate was published as Approaching the End: a theological exploration of death and dying (Oxford University Press, 2007). His previous book The Soul of the Embryo: An enquiry into the status of the human embryo in the Christian tradition (Continuum, 2004) was short-listed for the Michael Ramsey Prize.

He served as Vice-Chair of the Ministry of Defence Research Ethics Committee from 2009–2024, and an examiner for the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries Diploma in the Philosophy of Medicine. He is a member of the Healthcare Executive Group and the Department of Social Justice of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. He is a member of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU (COMECE) Working Group on Ethics in Research and Medicine and is a Corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

In 2009 he was a member of a working party of the General Medical Council which helped draft its 2010 guidance on Treatment and Care Towards the End of Life and was also on the National Reference Group of the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient. He has contributed to a number of documents of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, including A Practical Guide to the Spiritual Care of the Dying Person (CTS, 2010). In 2017 he was awarded the Paul Ramsey Award for Excellence in Bioethics. His most recent book, co-edited with Chris Gastmans and Calum MacKellar is Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Lessons from Belgium (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).

Information regarding how to join the online event will be sent to you in advance of the meeting following successful registration

FREE to attend

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