The Human Body On Trial

Do terminally ill patients have a right to die ? Can the mother of a drug-positive newborn be arrested and charged with child abuse? This is a thorough exploration of an individual's right to bodily autonomy versus the state's power to regulate and control the bodies of its citizens in the US. A thorough exploration of an individual's right to bodily autonomy versus the state's power to regulate and control the bodies of its citizens.

Do terminally ill patients have a right to die or can the government make them suffer a natural death? Can the mother of a drug-positive newborn be arrested and charged with child abuse? Explore these thorny social issues and many others in this reference work. The Human Body on Trial asks the basic question: Who's in charge of your body-you or the authorities?

Four narrative chapters examine key constitutional questions addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court over the past century concerning the power of the state to regulate the human body, placing the issues in historical context and examining the contemporary legal and medical knowledge that informed each decision.

The book focuses on individual cases, such as Jacobson v. Massachusetts (compulsory vaccination), Buck v. Bell (forced sterilization), and Roe v. Wade (abortion), and discusses such controversial issues as AIDS testing and physician-assisted suicide. A special reference section includes court decisions and other primary documents.