Harold Braswell
Abstract Definition of the problem Recent years have witnessed the emergence of a subfield of bioethics called “Disability Bioethics.” This subfield’s goal is to reformulate bioethics from the perspective of disability studies and, more broadly, the disability rights movement. This article argues that its proponents have been motivated by their engagement with the T4 Euthanasia Program. Disability bioethicists have considered this program to be paradigmatic of medicalized violence against disabled people. And they consider continual bioethical support of euthanasia to draw on and extend its violent, discriminatory logic. This critique has been opposed in recent years by a group of disability bioethicists who argue that because contemporary euthanasia is largely voluntary it cannot be like T4. This position has, in turn, been countered by disability bioethicists who argue that, less salient than the question of individual choice, is the discriminatory social logic underpinning euthanasia practice. Argument In this article, I will explicate this debate and seek to update it by drawing on two new sources: first, Dagmar Herzog’s book-length history of T4 The Question of Unworthy Life ; and, second, the dramatic extension of euthanasia in Canada. When considered together, these sources raise significant concerns about contemporary euthanasia practices—and, while not resolving the internal debate within disability bioethics, give support to the arguments of euthanasia’s critics. Conclusion I conclude by exploring the implications of this support for disability bioethics engagement with euthanasia expansion in the USA.