Born 1960 in Haugesund, south-western coast of Norway.
I am a doctor of philosophy. My thesis for the Norwegian degree of dr.art. (PhD) is Rights, Paternalism, and the State. A Kantian Exploration of Nozick’s Political Thought. It is no. 3 under Publications, and was written with a grant from the Ethics Programme of the Research Council of Norway. (See also the page about Robert Nozick included in this website.)
Presently Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer at the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
I teach history of philosophy, theory of science, ethical theory and medical ethics.
Carried out research on the relationship between euthanasia and palliative medicine as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Norwegian Cancer Society; herein semi-structured interviews with terminally ill cancer patients about euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (publication no. 38).
Chaired the Ethics Task Force on Palliative Care and Euthanasia of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC; read article about this NGO). This Task Force produced a position paper that since June 2003 is the official view of the EAPC on this issue. Its publication sparked a debate that included 56 commentaries from 32 countries around the world (in Palliative Medicine). These, as well as the original paper in English and French and translations into Hungarian, Italian, German, Greek and Finnish, our reply to critics, an Editorial on it and on the debate, and other commentaries may be downloaded for free here. In May 2008 the EAPC established a new taskforce that is to prepare a follow-up to the 2003 paper, with me as Chair.
I am first author (second is physician and clinical ethicist Dr Georg Bosshard, Zurich, Switzerland) of the chapter «Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide» to appear in the 4th edition of the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine, which is due in May 2009. It is firmly established as the definitive book on the subject, and is used in more than 8,000 palliative care services and in over 100 countries. Additionally, I am co-author of the chapter on Scandinavia in Euthanasia and Law in Europe (2008), Editor and principal author John Griffiths, Professor of Sociology of Law, University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
Sat on the Norwegian Government's National Committee for Medical Research Ethics (NEM) for three years.
Former head of the Medical Ethics Unit, Faculty of Medicine, NTNU.
Currently Visiting Research Fellow with the International Observatory on End of Life Care (IOELC; go to «Ethics» in left column), Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
Some pictures from Haugesund (located just above the «o» in «Rogaland» on the map of Norway to the left):
And some pictures from Trondheim:
