Easeful Death

Baroness Mary Warnock is a philosopher renowned for her writing on moral issues. Previously a Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St Hugh's College, Oxford, and Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge, she is now an Independent Life Peer in the House of Lords, and a writer and broadcaster. She was Chairman of the UK Committee of Inquiry into the Education of Children with Special Needs (report 1978); Chairman of the UK Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertility and Embryology (report 1984) and a Member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Euthanasia (1993). She is a Fellow of the British Academy, and Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Her numerous books include <i>An Intelligent Person's Guide to Ethics</i> (2004), and <i>Making Babies: Is There a Right To Have Children? </i> (2001). Elisabeth Macdonald has spent her career working in cancer medicine in the UK as well as periods as a Consultant Oncologist in France and in research at Stanford University, California. In 1988 she was appointed a consultant Cancer Specialist at Guy's and St Thomas' Teaching Hospitals in London. Her wide clinical experience includes palliative care in the hospital setting. She has an M.A. in Medical Law and Ethics from Kings College London and has taught medical ethics as an external tutor at Ethox, The Institute for Health Science in Oxford. She has retired from clinical practice and currently teaches Communication Skills to medical undergraduates at Guys Hospital. She also continues a medico-legal practice as an “Expert Witness”. Her book on communication in medicine, <i>Difficult Conversations in Medicine</i> aimed at both medical students and patients, was published in 2004.