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The law, regardless of what it aspires to, is designed to accommodate the many, and deal with exceptions on a case by case basis. The things that have happened
by knowtheory 15y ago
The law, regardless of what it aspires to, is designed to accommodate the many, and deal with exceptions on a case by case basis.
The things that have happened to Su Meck are a rarity in every sense of the word. Her circumstances are so exceptional that it seems weird to carve out exceptions in the law, and really should be accommodated by the parties which she would have previously formed contracts with.
On top of that, the law is supposed to draw up distinctions and standards that can be used as yardsticks and metrics, and where there is genuine confusion and vagueness, the law may not have enough clarity from societal standards, or agreement from the medical establishment to be able to draw up reasonable measures.
- chroma 15y agoI think the OP's point is that Su Mecks are rare today, but they will happen more often as technology can save more people. Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information-theoretic_death http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information-theoretic_death seems to have fewer edge-cases than our current criteria for declaring death.
- Symmetry 15y agoThats true, but for common law countries at least we can start having judges work out precedent for how to deal with this stuff when it starts to become an issue. In a certain sense its inelegant to rely on the entities executing the law being Turing complete, but thats what we do.