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{{Infobox scientist |
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'''Ian Robert Dowbiggin''' (born 1952) is an academic historian, a historian of medicine, a commentator on [[Catholicism]], and an opponent of [[euthanasia]] and [[Assisted suicide|physician-assisted suicide]]. He is a professor in the [[History]] department at the [[University of Prince Edward Island]]. His research and publications have been funded by the [[Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council]] of Canada and the Associated Medical Services. He acts as consultant and coordinator for ''The Cathedral Institute of Christian Spirituality''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.stpeter.org/institute/ |title=The Cathedral Institute |first= |last= |work=stpeter.org |year=2011 [last update] |quote=the Cathedral Institute of Christian Spirituality |quote=The staff who run the Institute are ... Professor Ian Dowbiggin and Professor Philip Davis, our Consultants and Coordinators|accessdate=26 September 2011}}</ref> |
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'''Ian Robert Dowbiggin''', born in Montreal, Quebec, is an academic historian, and author of books on the history of euthanasia, eugenics, and mental health care. He is a professor in the [[History]] department at the [[University of Prince Edward Island]]. |
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In 2011, he was made a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Canada]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rsc.ca/documents/media/Class_of_2011_Citations_ENG.pdf|title=Class of 2011: List of New Fellows|work=[[Royal Society of Canada]] |date=September 8, 2011 |accessdate=January 26, 2012}}</ref> |
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==Euthanasia== |
==Euthanasia== |
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Dowbiggin has written on the history of the [[euthanasia]] movement, including ''A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America'' (2003) and ''A Concise History of Euthanasia: Life, Death, God, and Medicine'' (2005). His works link [[Darwinism]] to the euthanasia movement as an example of the "intellectual shift" of the times, along with [[social progressivism]] and [[Unitarianism]], that led to some people accepting the practice of euthanasia, with examples including the founder of the Euthanasia Society of America, [[Charles Francis Potter]].<ref>{{cite web |last = Weikart |first = Richard |year = 2004 |title = Killing Them Kindly: Lessons from the euthanasia movement |url = http://www.csustan.edu/history/faculty/Weikart/killing.htm |publisher=[[California State University]] |accessdate = July 23, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Larson2004">{{cite journal | last = Larson | first = Edward | year = 2004 | title = Review: Euthanasia in America: Past, Present, and Future: A Review of a "Merciful End" and "Forced Exit" | journal = [[Michigan Law Review]] | volume = 102 | number = 6 | pages = 1245–1262 |publisher=[[University of Michigan Law School]] |jstor = 4141944}}</ref> The [[Canadian Historical Association]] awarded Dowbiggin the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize for ''A Merciful End'', stating that the book "gives a clear and evenly-balanced study of the history of euthanasia in the United States since the latter part of the nineteenth century" and concluded that it overall is a "masterful explanation of the way in which changing social, economic and disease-related factors have affected public interest in euthanasia."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cha-shc.ca/en/Prizes_24/items/10.html |title=The Wallace K. Ferguson Prize |author=[[Canadian Historical Association]] |date=2003 |work= |publisher= |accessdate=January 26, 2012}} </ref> |
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Dowbiggin has written extensively on the history of the [[euthanasia]] movement, including ''A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America'' (2003) and ''A Concise History of Euthanasia: Life, Death, God, and Medicine'' (2005). His research was based on privileged access to the archives of Compassion and Choices, once called the Euthanasia Society of America. These records have mysteriously disappeared. Until they are recovered, his books remain the authoritative source on the history of the right-to-die movement. |
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Dowbiggin's focus on eugenics being similar to euthanasia, however, was criticized by Sandra Woien in the ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' for overemphasising the relationship between the two, and of muddying "important conceptual and practical distinctions" of the different aspects of euthanasia.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Woien | first = Sandra | year = 2007 | title = Review of Ian Dowbiggin, A Concise History of Euthanasia: Life, Death, God, and Medicine and Neal Nicol and Harry Wylie, Between the Dying and the Dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s Life and the Battle to Legalize Euthanasia | journal = [[American Journal of Bioethics]] | volume = 7 | issue = 11 | pages = 50–52 |url=http://bioethics.net/journal/j_articles.php?aid=1431&display=abstract |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |accessdate=July 23, 2011}}</ref> |
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He is also the author of "The Quest for Mental Health: A ale of Science, Medicine, Scandal, Sorrow, and Mass Society" (2011). Cambridge University Press made it their book of the month for August, 2011. |
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Dowbiggin has spoken against euthanasia legislation and said that the [[Netherlands]] exists as a "cautionary lesson" for Canada in particular, as an example that those places that "take a permissive attitude to assisted suicide keep pushing the boundaries."<ref>{{cite web | last = Casey | first = Donna |date=November 2, 2007 | url=http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/11/02/4625978-sun.html |title=Debating euthanasia | work =[[Canadian Online Explorer|CNews]] |publisher=[[Sun Media]] |accessdate= July 23, 2011 }}</ref> |
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In 2011 Dowbiggin was elected as a Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada. |
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==Sterilization== |
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Dowbiggin published the book ''The Sterilization Movement and Global Fertility in the Twentieth Century'' in 2008. Drawing on scholarly sources, the book is primarily an account of sterilization as used for the purposes of [[eugenics]] and [[population control]], examples including the use of sterilization by European [[fascists]] and the Indian mass sterilization program carried out during the [[The Emergency (India)|1975–1977 Emergency in India]], which contributed to the downfall of [[Indira Gandhi]]'s government.<ref name="sterile"/> |
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Ulf Högberg, guest researcher of Public Health and Clinical Medicine at [[Umeå University]], argued in the ''European Journal of Public Health'' that, "The book is most impressive, finely tuning the history between choice and compulsion of sterilization policy; sometimes it has been a fine line in between, sometimes an abyss of abuse of human rights."<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ulf Högberg |year=November 11, 2008 |title=Ian Dowbiggin, The sterilization movement and global fertility in the twentieth century |journal=[[European Journal of Public Health]] |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=121 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/eurpub/ckn112 |pmid= |pmc= |url=http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/1/121.full |accessdate=January 26, 2012 }}</ref> |
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A review in the ''[[The New England Journal of Medicine]],'' by Carolyn Westhoff, an official of the [[Planned Parenthood Federation of America]], summed up by agreeing with the book's conclusion that "advocacy of sterilization as a solution to population growth leads to serious problems when that agenda overrides individual values and individual autonomy", but differs from it in stating that "Voluntary sterilization, however, deserves its great popularity and will remain valuable as one part of a broader menu of options for family planning." <ref name="sterile">{{cite journal |title=The Sterilization Movement and Global Fertility in the Twentieth Century |pages=1854–1855 |author=Carolyn L. Westhoff, M.D. |journal=[[The New England Journal of Medicine|N Engl J Med]] |year=2008 |volume=359 |publisher=[[Massachusetts Medical Society]] |url=http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMbkrev0804703 |accessdate=January 26, 2012}}</ref> |
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==Partial bibliography== |
==Partial bibliography== |
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Revision as of 18:19, 27 January 2012
An editor has nominated this article for deletion. You are welcome to participate in the deletion discussion, which will decide whether or not to retain it. |
Ian Robert Dowbiggin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1952 (age 71–72) |
| Alma mater | University of Rochester, University of Toronto, MacMaster University |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | History |
| Institutions | University of Prince Edward Island |
Ian Robert Dowbiggin (born 1952) is an academic historian, a historian of medicine, a commentator on Catholicism, and an opponent of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. He is a professor in the History department at the University of Prince Edward Island. His research and publications have been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Associated Medical Services. He acts as consultant and coordinator for The Cathedral Institute of Christian Spirituality.[1]
In 2011, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.[2]
Euthanasia
Dowbiggin has written on the history of the euthanasia movement, including A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America (2003) and A Concise History of Euthanasia: Life, Death, God, and Medicine (2005). His works link Darwinism to the euthanasia movement as an example of the "intellectual shift" of the times, along with social progressivism and Unitarianism, that led to some people accepting the practice of euthanasia, with examples including the founder of the Euthanasia Society of America, Charles Francis Potter.[3][4] The Canadian Historical Association awarded Dowbiggin the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize for A Merciful End, stating that the book "gives a clear and evenly-balanced study of the history of euthanasia in the United States since the latter part of the nineteenth century" and concluded that it overall is a "masterful explanation of the way in which changing social, economic and disease-related factors have affected public interest in euthanasia."[5]
Dowbiggin's focus on eugenics being similar to euthanasia, however, was criticized by Sandra Woien in the American Journal of Bioethics for overemphasising the relationship between the two, and of muddying "important conceptual and practical distinctions" of the different aspects of euthanasia.[6]
Dowbiggin has spoken against euthanasia legislation and said that the Netherlands exists as a "cautionary lesson" for Canada in particular, as an example that those places that "take a permissive attitude to assisted suicide keep pushing the boundaries."[7]
Sterilization
Dowbiggin published the book The Sterilization Movement and Global Fertility in the Twentieth Century in 2008. Drawing on scholarly sources, the book is primarily an account of sterilization as used for the purposes of eugenics and population control, examples including the use of sterilization by European fascists and the Indian mass sterilization program carried out during the 1975–1977 Emergency in India, which contributed to the downfall of Indira Gandhi's government.[8]
Ulf Högberg, guest researcher of Public Health and Clinical Medicine at Umeå University, argued in the European Journal of Public Health that, "The book is most impressive, finely tuning the history between choice and compulsion of sterilization policy; sometimes it has been a fine line in between, sometimes an abyss of abuse of human rights."[9]
A review in the The New England Journal of Medicine, by Carolyn Westhoff, an official of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, summed up by agreeing with the book's conclusion that "advocacy of sterilization as a solution to population growth leads to serious problems when that agenda overrides individual values and individual autonomy", but differs from it in stating that "Voluntary sterilization, however, deserves its great popularity and will remain valuable as one part of a broader menu of options for family planning." [8]
Partial bibliography
- A Concise History of Euthanasia: Life, Death, God, and Medicine (2005)
- A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America (2003)
- Suspicious Minds: The Triumph of Paranoia in Everyday Life (1999)
- Keeping America Sane: Psychiatry and Eugenics in the United States and Canada, 1880-1940 (1997)
- Inheriting Madness: Professionalization and Psychiatric Knowledge in 19th Century France (1991)
References
- ^ "The Cathedral Institute". stpeter.org. 2011 [last update]. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
The staff who run the Institute are ... Professor Ian Dowbiggin and Professor Philip Davis, our Consultants and Coordinators
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help) - ^ "Class of 2011: List of New Fellows" (PDF). Royal Society of Canada. September 8, 2011. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
- ^ Weikart, Richard (2004). "Killing Them Kindly: Lessons from the euthanasia movement". California State University. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
- ^ Larson, Edward (2004). "Review: Euthanasia in America: Past, Present, and Future: A Review of a "Merciful End" and "Forced Exit"". Michigan Law Review. 102 (6). University of Michigan Law School: 1245–1262. JSTOR 4141944.
- ^ Canadian Historical Association (2003). "The Wallace K. Ferguson Prize". Retrieved January 26, 2012.
- ^ Woien, Sandra (2007). "Review of Ian Dowbiggin, A Concise History of Euthanasia: Life, Death, God, and Medicine and Neal Nicol and Harry Wylie, Between the Dying and the Dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian's Life and the Battle to Legalize Euthanasia". American Journal of Bioethics. 7 (11). Taylor & Francis: 50–52. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
- ^ Casey, Donna (November 2, 2007). "Debating euthanasia". CNews. Sun Media. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
- ^ a b Carolyn L. Westhoff, M.D. (2008). "The Sterilization Movement and Global Fertility in the Twentieth Century". N Engl J Med. 359. Massachusetts Medical Society: 1854–1855. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
- ^ Ulf Högberg (November 11, 2008). "Ian Dowbiggin, The sterilization movement and global fertility in the twentieth century". European Journal of Public Health. 19 (1). Oxford University Press: 121. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckn112. Retrieved January 26, 2012.